The phrase a posteriori is Latin for “from the later” and is used mainly to refer to truth claims that are based on evidence.
a priori DiscoursesThe phrase a priori is Latin for “from the earlier” and is used mainly to refer to truth claims that are reached by reasoned thought.
Acquisition Metaphor“Learning as acquisition” – the Acquisition Metaphor – is probably the most commonly invoked learning metaphor in English. It is evident in such phrases as “grasping the point,” “taking things in,” “getting it,” “picking things up,” “hard to swallow,” “remember this stuff,” and “cramming for the test.” It is not theoretically sophisticated, relying on the assumption that knowledge comprises externalized objects, and asserting that learning is a process of moving those objects from the outside to the inside.
Action LearningAction Learning is a team-based approach to solving real-life problems, intended for businesses, non-profits, and other organizations. Key components of Action Learning are becoming aware of lack of relevant knowledge and, when the problem at hand is solved, reflecting on the process and results. Most forms of Action Learning include a coach, although the team is encouraged to be self-managing.
Action TheoryAction Theory is a perspective on social science research that asserts personal motivations (e.g., ends, purposes, ideals) must be considered when examining human actions. It explicitly rejected a realist/idealist dichotomy, grounding itself instead in more systemic and contingent notions that compel simultaneous consideration of micro and macro factors contributing to human action.
Active LearningAt its root, Active Learning is a critique of and response to “passive learning” – that is, delivery-based teaching methods that position the learner as a passive recipient of external knowledge. Active Learning thus encompasses a range of learning formats in which students are active, ranging from simply experiencing what is being learned (e.g., riding a bike) to more formally structured approaches.
Activist DiscoursesActivist Discourses are focused on interrogating the entrenched narratives and structures that infuse, lend support to, and help to perpetuate social norms and cultural institutions. Oriented by the conviction that there are no “neutral” acts or ideas, and critically attentive to the collective roots of personal convictions, Activist Discourses aim for deep understandings in order to inform and orient justice-oriented thinking and acting.
Activity TheoryActivity Theory simultaneously considers the individual’s cognition and the social reality by focusing on “activity systems” – that is, taking into account the knower’s history, motivations, mediating artefacts (language, tools, etc.), community, situation, and culture. More broadly, it looks at systems comprising multiple actors, such as teams and organizations, with particular given attention to rules and divisions of labor.
Activity- and Experience-Focused DiscoursesActivity- and Experience-Focused Discourses are common across virtually all modern conceptions of learning and teaching. That said, the rationales for activity and experience differ dramatically, with one extreme casting is a little more than opportunity to consolidate mental constructs through practice and illustration, and another extreme equating one’s actions/doing with one’s learning/knowing.
Activity-Dependent PlasticityActivity-Dependent Plasticity is developed around the realization that the robustness and fidelity of memories has to do with synaptic strength, which in turn is directly related to the sort and extent of the learner’s physical activities. The principal result is a set of interpretations of what goes on in the brain when the learner is involved in specific (usually repetitive) physical movements, practices, and/or stimulations.
Actor–Network TheoryActor–Network Theory (ANT) is founded on the assertion that everything exists in dynamic networks of relationship. Aiming to describe how networks are assembled and maintained, ANT’s focus is on relationship – that is, not on the nodes of the network but on the links that join them. Agency and power are located in the material (physical) and semiotic (conceptual) associations among humans and nonhumans (i.e., the network’s links).
Adaptive LearningAlthough subject to a range of definitions, Adaptive Learning is usually used to refer to on-screen learning experiences in which computers are used to monitor the learner (i.e., successes and patterns of engagement) and customize content and presentation accordingly.
Affordance TheoryAffordance Theory attends to “affordances” – that is, to the range of possibilities that arise when an individual (with specific intentions and needs, and who is oriented by a personal history) interacts with an environment (with specific structures/affordances that help to channel perception and that enable some actions while constraining others).
Alternative EducationThe term “Alternative Education” has been applied to many educational movements, curriculum innovations, and teaching approaches that, considered en masse, are linked only in their rejection of mainstream philosophies and practices. For the most part, specific types of Alternative Education are fitted to discourses that sit in the upper right regions of our map.
Anchored InstructionAnchored Instruction is a discourse on teaching in technology-rich settings that takes up advice on learner engagement from Active Learning, including emphases on complex problems, integrated contexts, realistic situations, collaborative work, and interdisciplinary inquiries. The term “anchoring” is used to highlight the connection between academic content and authentic context.
AndragogyAndragogy, a discourse focused on adult education, encourages consideration of: adults’ desires to know the reason for learning something; their broad experiences and knowledge bases; their needs for high levels of autonomy; their inclination toward immediately relevant and useful subjects; their preference for informal, problem-centered over formal, content-focused engagements; and their tendencies to be more internally than externally motivated.
Animal CognitionAnimal Cognition is concerned with observing and testing non-human animals’ cognitive capabilities. Foci include (but are not limited to) perception, attention, discrimination, categorization, training, rule learning, remembering, forgetting, anticipating, extrapolating, goal-seeking, perception of time, tool use, reasoning, problem solving, communication, language-like behavior, symbol use, sudden insight, quantity sense, and self-awareness.
AnthropologyAnthropology is the study of humanity.
Applied Behavior AnalysisApplied Behavior Analysis is a Behaviorism that is concerned with developing and applying evidence-based techniques to change behaviors – especially social behaviors. It emphasizes fine-grained analyses of both aberrant and acceptable behaviors before any interventions, as well as rigorous observation and measurement during interventions.
Artificial IntelligenceArtificial Intelligence (AI) is a domain of computer science focused on devices that are able to take some level of agency in achieving novel goals. Beyond that detail, the scope of AI is disputed, in part because “novel goals” is a moving target … as once-unimaginable feats become routine. Commonly mentioned aspects include abilities to collect relevant information about the environment, draw inferences based on that information, and apply those inferences flexibly.
Assessment and EvaluationTechnically, Assessment and Evaluation encompasses any activity intended to monitor student learning. It can be planned or spontaneous; it can be focused on an individual or on an educational system; it can be systematic or haphazard. More concisely, Assessment and Evaluation tend to be uncritical consequences of other discourses on learning.
Association-Making MetaphorThe Association-Making metaphor has to do with linking – experiences, interpretations, agents, systems, and so on. The metaphor is invoked in multiple ways, from the very static and mechanical to the more dynamic and organic.
Association-Making StrategiesMost contemporary discourses invoke notions of networks – among ideas, and/or neurons, and/or persons, and/or species, … and so on. Those discourses concerned specifically with the emergence of an individual’s conceptual understandings tend to focus on networks of interpretation that are rooted in the knower’s experience. Association-Making Strategies are some of the ways that humans establish and elaborate these webs of meaning.
Associative LearningAssociative Learning refers to processes involving linking a stimulus and a response. Most prominently, it includes Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning.
Associative Sequence LearningAssociative Sequence Learning brings research into mirror neurons into the frame of Behaviorisms. Thus, in addition to the mechanisms proposed by Behaviorisms to explain how one learns specific actions, Associative Sequence Learning adds mechanisms associated with mirror neurons (e.g., simple observation and imitation, including imagined mimicking).
Attainment MetaphorThe Attainment Metaphor is prominent in current discussions of formal education. It frames knowledge as existing in discrete regions (e.g., fields, areas) to be traversed, and learning is typically framed as progressing across (and sometimes dwelling in) those regions. Learning is cast in movement-based sensibilities –e.g., as “getting there.”
Attribution TheoryAttribution Theory is developed around the assumption that individuals are motivated to develop causal explanations of behaviors and events. Such explanations posit either internal or external attributions. Very different opinions of the actor arise, depending on the type of attribution. People tend to attribute their own behaviors to situational factors and others’ actions to their personal qualities.
Authentic EducationAuthentic Education refers to those approaches to schooling rooted in the human sciences that emphasize personal engagement, learner difference, developmental stages, and personalized learning aligned with individual curiosities and goals.
Authentic LearningAuthentic Learning is used to refer to a great variety of perspectives on learning and teaching – making it easier to describe in terms of what it isn’t than what it is. Authentic Learning is not traditional standardized education; it is not teacher-centered; it is not organized around a fact-focused, pre-set curriculum. Typical (but not universal) qualities include active exploration, higher-order thinking, meaningful social interaction, real-world problems, learner-relevant topics, and differentiated teaching strategies.
Backward DesignBackward Design is a three-stage model of preparing to teach a topic. Step 1 (Goals) involves identifying the desired results; Step 2 (Assessments) is about determining what sorts of results will constitute evidence the aims have been met; Step 3 (Planning) is about selecting and sequencing activities to attain the desired goals.
Behavior Change MethodsThe phrase “Behavior Change Methods” encompasses any technique that is intended to influence how people act. Most popular in the health professions, the discourse looks across a wide range of factors, strategies, and measures in its efforts to affect human behavior.
Behavior ModificationWhile subject to various interpretations, Behavior Modification is used most often to refer to the application of behaviorism-based techniques to decrease maladaptive behavior. Typically, Behavior Modification plans follow highly prescriptive and rigidly implemented protocols of rewards and/or punishment.
BehaviorismsBehaviorisms reject the notion that knowledge is some sort of external, stable, and context-free form. Rejecting attempts to explain learning in terms of unobservable mental processes, Behaviorisms focus instead on observable and measurable phenomena – thus operationally defining learning in terms of changes in behavior that are attributable to environmental factors.
Blended LearningBlended Learning is an approach to student engagement that combines familiar face-to-face approaches with technology-mediated experiences. Discussions of Blended Learning began in the 1950s, and so conceptions and evolved and diverged as new technologies have been incorporated, as principles have been applied to more topics and across more levels, and as learner self-determination has risen as an educational priority.
Bloom's TaxonomyBloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchal model of learning objectives that identifies distinct modes of engaging with knowledge. Originally developed in the mid-1900s, the current (2001) version comprises: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create.
Brain-as-Computer DiscoursesThere is a long history of interpreting learning in terms of the latest technologies. Examples include writing on a tablet, taking photographs and films, and making connections on a telephone switchboard. Brain-as-Computer Discourses represent an uncritical continuation of this trend, through which knowledge is reduced to information and learning is cast as inputting and manipulating that information.
Brain-Based LearningProponents of Brain-Based Learning claim almost the same conceptual territory as Neuroeducation, with a somewhat more pragmatic emphasis. Brain-Based Learning aims to interrupt entrenched practices, conventions, and assumptions about the learning process by drawing scientific research into brain function and cognitive development, but its main focus in on school programs, lesson designs, and teaching methods.
Case-Based LearningCase-Based Learning, as the name suggests, is a model of learner engagement that is developed around a “case” – a fact-based (and typically real-world) scenario that is disciplinary-specific, has the potential to stimulate discussion, and has the breadth to foster significant inquiry. Often the cases are presented as concise stories about individuals facing complex decisions. Case-Based Learning is learner-centered and collaboration-focused.
Categorization StrategiesDiscourses on Categorization Strategies focus on the processes used to recognize, differentiate, associate, and understand ideas and objects. Several strategies have been identified, and all appear to be strongly associated with cultural influences (i.e., personal preferences for specific modes are likely dependent on one’s situation).
Challenge-Based LearningChallenge-Based Learning is a hands-on model of collaboration, focused on addressing real-world issues. There are three main stages in the framework: engaging (questioning, naming an actionable challenge), investigating (planning and proceeding), and acting (implementing and evaluating). All stages involve collaboration, documentation, reflection, and sharing.
ChangeThat "something must change when learning happens" is perhaps the solitary point of agreement across all the discourses on learning reviewed on this site. That said, "change" is invoked in three distinct ways: as part of literal descriptions of learning, as part of figurative interpretations of learning, and as a synonym for learning.
Change ManagementChange Management is an umbrella term that is used in reference to a family of strategies, models, and programs designed to support individual, collective, and organizational efforts to self-transform.
Choice LearningChoice Learning begins with the assumption that one’s decisions and behaviors are oriented by a desire for a “good life.” The learner is thus seen as a self-directing individual who seeks to fulfill basic life needs – including physical needs, survival needs, and psychological needs.
ChunkingChunking refers to any process associated with reducing the demands on individual consciousness by collecting bits of information into larger, meaningful wholes.
Classical ConditioningClassical Conditioning is concerned with studying and affecting reflexive, nonvoluntary behaviors that are not under the learners’ control (e.g., salivation), and it deals with training learners to use neutral stimuli (e.g., a bell sound) to elicit those behaviors. The principal strategy is to present the stimulus when the target behavior occurs so that the learner forms an association between them.
Classroom ManagementClassroom Management was originally coined to refer to those tactics used by a teacher to maintain control and order. The term has recently been elaborated to encompass any efforts intended to ensure educational settings that support learning.
Cognitive ApprenticeshipCognitive Apprenticeship focuses master–apprentice relationships, with a particular interest in rendering usually tacit practices more explicit. On the master’s side, it is concerned with strategies used to communicate critical elements of the skill, varieties of supervision, and structures of feedback. On the apprentice’s side, it is concerned with types and extents of practice, steps toward mastery, social supports, and strategies for reflection.
Cognitive ArchitectureA Cognitive Architecture is a computer model of the human mind. That is, a Cognitive Architecture is an electronic system that aims to mimic the structural properties and the behaviors of an intelligent cognitive system. Many have been developed, principally as tools to investigate and refine theories of cognition.
Cognitive Attractor TheoryCognitive Attractor Theory focuses on the environmental patterns that attract thoughts and behaviours of individuals and social collectives. Altering those conditions can affect thinking and behaviour, and so environments can be designed to occasion specific (desired) emergent behaviors of the agents in a system.
Cognitive BiasA Cognitive Bias is a systematic pattern of thinking and/or acting that is rooted in either uncritical associations or bad judgment, but that nonetheless feels “right” to the person. A Cognitive Bias can be manifest as a perceptual distortion, an inaccurate assessment, an illogical interpretation, or other irrational response. The prevailing view is that Cognitive Biases are mental “short cuts” that, in the right contexts, can lead to efficient and effective action – but that, inappropriately applied, can be constraining or damaging.
Cognitive BiologyWithin Cognitive Biology, learning and thought are regarded as biological functions. Concisely, a living system’s cognition comprises every act of sensing environmental cues and responding accordingly. In other words, bacteria, plants, animals, and all other living organisms are continuously cognizing. Thus, learning and cognition are not higher-order mental phenomena; rather, they exist on a continuum of physical-chemical-electrical processes.
Cognitive DevelopmentalismsCognitive Developmentalisms focus on stages in the individual’s development of skills and preferences around reasoning, perception, language, and other thought-associated competencies. In general terms, these theories trace the development from the infant’s dependence on physical actions on concrete objects to more mature abilities to mentally manipulate abstract notions.
Cognitive Dissonance TheoryCognitive Dissonance is the mental discomfort one feels when one’s beliefs, ideas, or values are inconsistent or contradictory. Discomfort or psychological dissonance is triggered when new evidence does not align with previously held notions. To ameliorate discomfort, people either adjust to, argue against, or remain indifferent to the contradiction.
Cognitive Evaluation TheoryCognitive Evaluation Theory is a sub-theory to Self-Determination Theory that looks at how intrinsic motivation is affected by external influences. Among its explanatory propositions, Cognitive Evaluation Theory asserts that external events that prompt greater self-confidence will enhance intrinsic motivation, and events that challenge self-confidence will negatively impact intrinsic motivation.
Cognitive Flexibility TheoryCognitive Flexibility Theory is concerned with learning in domains in which ill-structured situations are common, such as history, biology, law, and medicine. “Cognitive flexibility” refers to the ability to spontaneously reconfigure one’s understandings in ways to adapt to novel and dynamic situations, and so goals of teaching include highlighting interconnections and avoiding oversimplifications.
Cognitive Load TheoryCognitive Load Theory begins by asserting that teaching can be made more effective by attending to the role and limits of working memory. It assumes that information must be processed by working memory before it can be stored in long-term memory. Three types of cognitive load are identified: intrinsic, germane, and extraneous. Lesson designers are advised to attend in particular to germane cognitive load.
Cognitive ModelingCognitive Modeling is concerned with simulating human thinking and problem solving, with views toward predicting human conceptual performance on focused tasks and improving human–computer interaction. Cognitive Modeling employs many different strategies, including decision-tree-like diagrams, sets of equations to simulate nonlinear systems, trainable neural nets, and interactive computer programs.
Cognitive Motivation TheoriesCognitive Motivation Theories are Motivation Theories that focus on the thought-mediated actions. (contrast with Behaviorisms.) Many models have been developed and researched. Prominent examples include Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Metacognition, Flow, Mindset, Positive Psychology, and Self-Efficacy.
Cognitive ProcessesCognitive Processes are brain-based phenomena that are associated with generating new knowledge and using established knowledge. Typically, lists of Cognitive Processes include such phenomena as attention, formation of knowledge, memory, judgment, evaluation, reasoning, computation, decision making, comprehension, and language use.
Cognitive PsychologyThere is a pronounced tendency within Cognitive Psychology to interpret learning in terms of the metaphors associated with Cognitivism. That is, “cognition” is often interpreted as information processing – and while the associated cluster of metaphors is useful on some levels, it is also profoundly reductive and limiting, given that the brain is not a computer.
Cognitive RoboticsCognitive Robotics is concerned with creating robots that are able to learn and reason in order to act effectively in situations involving complex goals and/or problem solving. It explicitly rejects strategies based on symbolic representations of the world. Rather, it situates ambulatory, sensing robots in the physical world and equips them with strategies to learn to act as they work toward meeting assigned goals.
Cognitive ScienceCognitive Science is the study of cognition in humans, non-human animals, and machines. It brings together psychology, linguistics, computer science, neuroscience, anthropology, philosophy, and other domains. Typically, the foci of Cognitive Science are identified as learning, development, perception, attention, reasoning, emotion, consciousness, memory, language, creativity, and intelligence, and its are identified as better understanding the mind, advancing practical knowledge of learning, and developing intelligent devices.
**Cognitive SemioticsCognitive Semiotics is a theory of making meaning that brings together Semiotics and Cognitive Science. This blend entails analysis of how signs and symbols are involved in making meaning as well as experiment-based investigations, all aimed better understanding the role of signs.
Cognitive Styles TheoriesCognitive Styles Theories comprise dozens of perspectives and models that are concerned with different ways that individuals process and retain information. Almost always founded on or associated with an uncritical “brain as computer” metaphor, the most popular versions offer typologies and assessment tools to classify learners. Most tools are based on personality traits and behavioral habits.
CognitivismCognitivism is explicitly developed around the metaphor “brain as computer.” It thus focuses on how information is acquired, processed, and organized. Learning is seen in terms of integration of new information into existing structures through processes of internal codification.
Coherence DiscoursesCoherence Discourses regard distinctions and descriptions as useful devices to make sense of the complex dynamics of learning, but they caution that such devices are mere heuristic conveniences. Coherence Discourses suggest that truths do not exist independently or outside of a system – which is a commentary on humans’ understanding of reality, not a commentary on reality. Most Coherence Discourses employ biological and ecological metaphors, with dynamics framed in evolutionary terms.
Collaborative LearningCollaborative Learning is an umbrella term for a range of practical theories concerned with supporting individual learning while working with others on interdependent tasks. It is concerned mainly with adult learners (and so expends less effort on supporting soft skills and defining roles), and its principles are applied to any format that permits adequate communication (i.e., face-to-face is not required).
Collective IntelligenceCollective Intelligence is an umbrella notion that reaches across dozens of descriptions of, platforms for, and strategies for collaborative efforts to generate knowledge or achieve goals that are unlikely to be realized by any of the participants on their own.
Collectivist Learning TheoriesCollectivist Learning Theories are concerned with emergence and maintenance of both individual knowing and collective knowledge, recognizing these dynamic phenomena to be inextricably intertwined and continuously co-emergent. In general, collectively constituted knowledge is seen to frame individual interpretive possibilities – in effect, formatting possible worlds through specifying what is knowable, doable, and be-able.
CommognitionCommognition is an education-focused articulation of Socio-Cultural Theory. The name is a mash-up of communication and cognition, used to signify the unity of interaction and thinking. Commognition foregrounds the role of verbal language, attending in particular to the human capacity to talk about almost anything, including talk itself. That recursive function of language is seen as the source of unbounded innovation and ever-mounting complexity.
Common Coding TheoryOriented by its grounding metaphor, “learning is (en)coding,” Common Coding Theory assumes that the learning/encoding of perceptions and the learning/encoding of motor actions are directly linked by a common computational code.
Communal ConstructivismCommunal Constructivism is, in essence, an expanded definition of Social Constructivism, with two key elaborations. Firstly, current advances in information technology are taken into account, especially around matters of enhanced virtual learning environments through developments in communication tools and increased information storage. Secondly, it couples an emphasis on building knowledge with each other to building for one another.
**Communication TheoryThe Conduit Metaphor is a common-sense model of human communication, framed in terms of shunting packets of meaning through channels.
Communities TheoriesCommunities Theories are concerned with collective engagement. Among the many variations of contemporary educational interest, the most prominent is perhaps Communities of Practice. Others that have gained some significant traction are Virtual Community of Practice, Network of Practice, Learning Community, and Professional Learning Community.
Community of PracticeA Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of active practitioners of an occupation that (1) involves expertise (i.e., learned and practiced skills and/or knowledge) and (2) has processes for sharing information and sequencing experiences in ways that afford members opportunities to develop personally and professionally.
Competency-Based LearningCompetency-Based Learning focuses on the development of concrete skills. Hallmarks include specification and isolation of individual competencies, highly structured sequences of activities to develop those competencies, and requirements to demonstrate pre-defined levels of mastery before advancing.
Complex InstructionComplex Instruction is a group-based teaching approach that focuses on strategies to promote equal-status interactions among learners. It is oriented by the principle that unequal participation leads to unequal opportunities to learn while potentially reinforcing prejudices and stereotypes.
**Complex Systems ResearchComplex Systems Research focuses on systems comprising sets of agents that form unified wholes in their interactions, relationships, or dependencies. Their emergent, global behaviors cannot be predicted on the basis of the rules governing the individual agents. Definitions and descriptions of complex systems revolve around such terms as emergent, adaptive, nonlinear, irreducible, noncompressible, non-decomposable, multi-level, self-organizing, context-sensitive, and adaptive.
Component Display TheoryComponent Display Theory asserts that teaching is most effective when instructional strategies and learning actions are properly aligned with the type of knowledge to be learned. The theory thus involves classifying and matching across several sets of distinctions: including learning actions, knowledge types, primary instructional strategies, and secondary instructional strategies.
Computational CognitionComputational Cognition is an approach to research learning that focuses on the development of computational models fitted to empirical evidence and attentive to human experience. Critically, Computational Cognition does not assert or assume that the mind is an information-processing system; rather, the orienting premise is that technologies of computation afford useful means to study human cognition (including sub-phenomena, such as intention, motivation, emotion, and perception) by using complex, dynamic models.
ComputationalismComputationalism is more a philosophical positioning than a practical theory. Its grounding premise is that the mind is an information-processing system, and so perception, thought, consciousness, and so are all forms of computation. By implication, learning is seen as a matter of rule-based symbolic manipulations within neural networks.
Conceptual Blending TheoryConceptual Blending Theory extends Conceptual Metaphor Theory in the suggestion that complex concepts and creative leaps typically involve blends of multiple metaphors. Such processes are seen as core aspects in human thought and language – pervasive, constant, and largely nonconscious. Once blends have been made, they become resilient and invisible for the knower.
Conceptual ChangeThe multiple interpretations of Conceptual Change in the education literature converge around the point that it has to do with restructuring, problematizing, or replacing an existing conception to give way to a new one. The notion can be applied at the level of individual learning or collective knowledge production, and so the theory draws an explicit, bi-directional link between personal and cultural knowledge.
Conceptual Metaphor TheoryConceptual Metaphor Theory looks at metaphor as a core tool of human thinking. The theory examines how metaphor makes it possible to understand one “conceptual domain” (e.g., idea, cluster of related experiences, set of interrelated interpretations) in terms in terms of another conceptual domain. It also examines how metaphoric associations among domains can orient perception, prompt action, and serve as uncritical justifications for further interpretations.
Conditions of LearningConditions of Learning is a pairing of classifications, one focused on kinds of learning and the other on events of instruction. It assumes a linear, hierarchical model of learning, and is thus concerned with mastery at one level before moving to the next. Various categories of learning are identified, and each is seen to require different types of instruction. Nine instructional events are delineated.
Connectionism (of Behaviorisms)Thorndike’s Connectionism focuses on laws governing the formation of bonds between stimuli (triggers) and responses (reactions to those triggers).
Connectionism (of Cognitive Science)Connectionism asserts that mental phenomena can be modeled and explained using artificial neural networks that are interconnected in ways that mimic the brain’s nested and distributed structure. The theory builds on the realization that cognition is not a global process that emerges in the collective activity of neurons, but a process that is embodied at each level of the brain’s nested structure.
ConnectivismConnectivism is more descriptive than explanatory. It looks across any and all phenomena associated with learning and knowledge, and it posits that such phenomena can be characterized in terms of systems and networks.
Conscious Competence Model of LearningThe Conscious Competence Learning Model dissects the development from being unskilled to being skilled into four discrete stages: unconscious incompetence (learners are unaware of the area of skill and/or their incompetence), conscious incompetence (develop an awareness of lack of skill or understanding), conscious competence (develop some level of fluency), and unconscious competence (able to use the skill without thinking about it).
Consequential Educational PracticesConsequential Educational Practices are, in effect, translations of theories and beliefs on learning into educational actions and policies. Thus, occupants of this region are not necessarily discourses on learning, but they influence and are influenced by those discourses.
Construction MetaphorThe Construction Metaphor frames learning in terms of individuals assembling their knowledge from bits of information received from the outside world. In its most trivial and common usage, it is a Folk Theory that is only a slight elaboration of the Acquisition Metaphor, retaining separations of inside from outside and mental from physical. More radical uses of the metaphor are encountered among Embodiment Discourses.
ConstructionismConstructionism is focused on the learning that happens through being immersed in making physical objects. Such learning is seen as participatory and situated, and it involves connecting and integrating different ideas.
Constructionist GamingConstructionist Gaming blends the core themes of Constructionism, Maker Education, and Games and Learning to focus on student learning through making their own games. It is oriented by the conviction that making games contributes to the development of technical skills and supports the development of social skills.
Constructive-Developmental TheoryConstructive-Developmental Theory posits five qualitatively distinct and increasingly complex levels/modes/orders of consciousness, starting with mastery over impulses and perceptions, then needs and desires, and then interpersonal relationships. Some also achieve a self-authoring consciousness, and a few manage a self-transforming, systems-oriented, non-egocentric mode.
Contiguity TheoryContiguity Theory casts learning in terms of associations between stimuli and responses. Unlike Behaviorisms, focusing on the learning of movements (sensory-motor patterns) rather than behaviors. It is founded on the assertion that movement that was accompanied by a specific combination of stimuli will likely happen again when that combination recurs. Learning is thus seen to happen in a single trial.
Conversation TheoryThe core idea of Conversation Theory is that learning occurs recursively through “conversations” – that is, occasions in which two or more cognitive agents (living organisms and/or machines) use language-oriented systems (everyday language, discipline-based language, or meta-language) with the intention of agreeing on meanings of a given concept.
Cooperative LearningCooperative Learning occurs when groups work collectively to achieve a common academic goal. The group benefits from the skills and experiences of the members. Success depends on the success of the group rather than the individual. Both the group and the individuals in the group are accountable. It requires face-to-face interaction, individual interdependence, and group processing – and thus there is typically a strong emphasis on soft skills.
Correspondence DiscoursesCorrespondence Discourses are perspectives on learning that assume a radical separation of mental (or internal, or brain-based) and physical (or external, or body-based). That separation sets up the need for a correspondence between what’s happening in the real, objective world and what’s happening in one’s inner, subjective world. Most assume object-based metaphors, linear/direct imagery, and Newtonian mechanics, thus framing learning in terms of acquiring, attaining, inputting, and/or linking.
Creativity DiscoursesCreativity Discourses comprise dozens of perspectives that are concerned with the processes associated with generating something new and valuable – both material and conceptual.
Critical PedagogyProponents of Critical Pedagogy see formal education as inherently political – meaning that teaching and learning cannot be dissociated from issues of social justice. The overarching aim of Critical Pedagogy is the development of a “critical consciousness” – that is, awareness of the often-invisible connections between oppressions and the social, political, and cultural conditions that surround those oppressions.
**Critical RealismCritical Realism was articulated centuries ago as a response to Naïve Realism, which is the belief that one’s senses provide direct awareness of the world as it truly is. Critical Realism asserts that only some of one’s perceptions accurately represent the external world. It does so by drawing a distinction between primary qualities (observer-independent, objectively measurable) and secondary qualities (observer sensations, subjectively determined).
Crowd PsychologyCrowd Psychology is a generic term that refers to a range of discourses that address how the sensibilities manifested in/by crowds can differ from and interact with the sensibilities of the individuals within the crowd. Reasons can vary dramatically. Factors can include peer pressures, ideological rigidity and arrogance, group homogeneity and cohesion, group isolation and exclusivity, anonymity, arousal, and/or limited knowledge.
Cultural LearningCultural Learning studies and describes that ways that people or non-human animals develop and perpetuate their collective knowledge.
Cultural PsychologyCultural Psychology is founded on the tenet that mind and culture are inseparable. It thus focuses on how cultures reflect and shape individuals’ psychologies, and how individuals’ psychologies reflect and shape cultures. It is motivated in part by the relatively recent popular realization that most psychological research has been W.E.I.R.D. – that is, based on Western, Education, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic populations.
Cultural-Historical Activity TheoryCultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) describes how human activity is shaped by the complex web of participants and their systemic constraints. That is, CHAT explores the relationship between mind and activity, oriented by the Socio-Cultural Theory insight that one’s consciousness is shaped by social experience and mediated by artefacts.
Cultural-Historical PsychologyCultural-Historical Psychology brought together psychologists, educationalists, medical specialists, physiologists, and neuroscientists around the shared goal of forming an integrative science for a new theory of consciousness. Cultural-Historical Psychology aimed to account for the inseparability of mind, brain, behavior, and culture, founded on the premise that a one’s development progresses inward from one’s relationships with others.
Cybernetic-Systems DiscoursesCybernetic-Systems Discourses are concerned with the means by which elements of adaptive, self-maintaining systems communicate, coordinate, and co-regulate. Such systems can be organic, mechanical, or a combination.
**CyberneticsCybernetics is the study of control and communication among biological, mechanical, social, and/or other systems that can adapt or adjust. More specifically, Cybernetics examines “circular causal” relationships – that is, the sort of looping feedback observed when a system triggers a change in its environment which then triggers a change in the system … and so on.
Decolonizing EducationDecolonizing Education is about rethinking education and rebuilding schools, based on commitments to identify and interrupt the cultural legacy of European colonialism.
**Deep EcologyDeep Ecology asserts that the survival of any part of Earth’s ecosystem is dependent on the well-being of the whole. It is aimed at rethinking human societies in ways that not only halt human-triggered degradations to the more-than-human world, but that involve fundamental reformattings of human sensibilities that are attentive to deep relationships and interconnections among all living things.
Deep LearningDeep Learning refers to iterative machine learning algorithms in which each layer of non-linear processing uses output from the previous layer to form a hierarchy of concepts. Deep Learning algorithms have been useful for speech recognition, computer vision, social network filtering. generating mathematical proofs, playing sophisticated games, modeling complex natural systems. (Note: not to be confused with Deep vs. Surface Learning.)
Deep vs. Surface LearningDeep vs. Surface Learning highlights a divergence of opinion around what it means to know something. Deep Learning is associated with intrinsically motivated forms of engagement, characterized by making meaningful connections between new and previous understandings. Surface Learning tends to be associated with extrinsic motivations and is focused on the memorization and recall of information for formulaic responses.
Deeper LearningDeeper Learning is a blend of prominent contemporary educational discourses. It is aimed at transforming schooling in ways that fit with contemporary personal, social, cultural, and economic circumstances.
Democratic Citizenship EducationDemocratic Citizenship Education encompasses those approaches to schooling that are attentive to collective process and cultural inequities. Informed mainly by the social sciences, its principal aims are to promote social justice and productive collective action, in part through recognizing and (where appropriate) subverting hegemonic structures.
Design ThinkingDesign Thinking is about the cognitive, strategic, and practical processes associated with designing solutions and/or products. Design Thinking is considered a process for innovation and includes problem seeking and identification, imagining solutions or products, planning, creating, prototyping, testing, and improving, as it spans solution-based strategies for solving ill-defined problems across human-made and natural contexts.
Design-Based LearningDesign-Based Learning is structured around the making of artefacts through iterative (cyclical, improvement-oriented) processes of design, build, test, and revise. It is seen to engage deeper learning as learners develop, synthesize, and apply their knowledge to create artefacts through body-active problems solving, challenges, and other inquiries.
**DeterminismsDeterminism refers to any belief system founded on the assumption that what will be is completely determined by what has been. The future is assumed to be entirely predetermined by already-existing causes. Several Determinisms have been proposed, varying according to what is taken as the source of the causes and what the futures controlled by those causes.
Developmental DiscoursesWithin Developmental Discourses, learning is understood as a recursively elaborative process rather than a linear accumulative one. Most Developmental Discourses focus on how learners’ key habits of perception and interpretation change amid predictable sequences of biological, psychological, and emotional transformation.
Dialogic LearningDialogic Learning encompasses a range of discourses that are concerned with the learning that happens within and through dialogue. Applied in various ways, the notion has been interpreted in terms of egalitarian action, collaborative inquiry, personal development, and supporting learning across most curriculum areas.
Differentiated InstructionDifferentiated Instruction is a teaching emphasis intended to meet the varied learning needs of all students. Most of its discussion is focused on diversities covered by Learning Styles Theories, Cognitive Styles Theories, and Developmentalisms, but attention is also given to socio-cultural sources (e.g., socioeconomic status, language, culture) and biologically rooted differences (e.g., gender, brain injuries).
Diffusion of Innovation TheoryDiffusion of Innovation Theory is a descriptive model of how perceived innovations – including ideas, actions, or artefacts – are adopted by and diffuse through a population. The theory includes a taxonomy of adopters, from Innovators through to Laggards. The theory also identifies stages of innovation and specifies factors that influence adoption.
DIKW PyramidThe DIKW Pyramid is a catch-all description of several models explicating the relationships among data (symbols, signals, unprocessed facts), information (useful, meaningful data), knowledge (information synthesized over time and across contexts), and wisdom (know-why, an extension of know-how).
Directive PedagogiesDirective Pedagogies include those attitudes and approaches to teaching that assume directional movement of information and authority from the teacher to the student. Images of straight lines figure prominently in discussions and enactments of Directive Pedagogies, including the teacher-to-student line of information flow, the first-to-twelfth-grade trajectory of learner progress, and so on.
Discourses on Individual Learning in Group SettingsDiscourses on Individual Learning in Group Settings are concerned with matters of designing tasks, designating roles, and structuring contexts in ways that support the developments of individuals’ conceptual understandings and soft (social) skills.
Discourses on Learning CollectivesDiscourses on Learning Collectives are concerned with matters of designing tasks, designating roles, and structuring situations in ways that support the maintenance and elaboration of teams or organizations.
Discovery LearningInterpreted directly, Discovery Learning is rooted in the assumption that knowledge is out there, and learning is about finding it and taking it in. That is, it is a modest elaboration of the Acquisition Metaphor, with nearly identical assumptions about knowledge, but ascribing more agency to the learner – who’s seen less as a passive receptacle and more an active agent.
Distributed CognitionDistributed Cognition attends to the ways that humans use social and technological means to off-load some of their thinking. In this frame, “cognition” is understood to extend across members of a social group and to be invested in physical artefacts and environments. That is, the social and material worlds that humans structure around themselves – understood as core aspects of cognition, not merely the products of cognition.
Domain-General LearningDomain-General Learning is a principle of brain development. It asserts that human brains are less modularized that is popularly assumed. Rather, while region-based specialization occurs, brains are capable of much more varied and nuanced learning than a module-based model might suggest, especially when interdependence of regions and domains is considered.
Dominant Frames for KnowledgeThe purpose of this cluster is to foreground and contrast key metaphors of knowledge and knowing, along with their major consequences for learning and teaching.
Double-Loop LearningDouble-Loop Learning is an iterative model which posits that higher-order learning involves two processes or loops. The first loop is goal-directed, rule-based, and unreflective. The second loop is reflective and analytical, enabling the modification of the first loop.
Dreyfus Model of Skill AcquisitionThe Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition is focused on how learners develop skills, taking instruction and practice into consideration. The model parses the process into five or six distinct stages, depending on the version: Novice, Advanced Beginner, Competence, Proficiency, Expertise, Mastery. (Some versions omit either Advance Beginner or Expertise.)
Drives, Needs, & Desires TheoriesDrives/Needs/Desires Theories are Motivation Theories that are focused mainly on meeting needs and satisfying desires. Many such discourses have been developed, and prominent examples include Behaviorisms and Psychoanalytic Theories.
Dual Inheritance TheoryDual Inheritance Theory aims to explain human activity in terms of two intertwined processes: biological evolution and cultural evolution. Concisely, changes at the genetic level can influence culture, and changes in culture can influence genetic selection.
E-LearningE-Learning is focused on multimedia learning using digital technologies. E-Learning can be applied to a range of efforts to derive instructional design principles from Cognitive Science research. It is most often associated with Cognitive Load Theory, which is anchored to research into the limitations of working memory, and consequently advice is focused on minimizing distractions and focusing on learner-specific preferences and capacities.
Eco-Complexity DiscoursesEco-Complexity Discourses is a sub-category of Coherence Discourses. It is an umbrella term that reaches across perspectives on learning that refuse separations of human from nature, material from transcendent, and part from whole. Across Eco-Complexity Discourses, learning is understood as synonymous with evolution.
Ecological DiscoursesEcology is the domain of science focused on the relationships of living things to their environments. As is frequently noted, the word is derived from the Greek for “house, dwelling place,” highlighting a simultaneous attentiveness to both the individual elements and to the system that comprises and transcends those elements. In education, proponents drawing on Ecological Discourses typically foreground multiple forms of relationship (e.g., biological, social, epistemological) while frequently situating discussions in relation to environmental well-being.
Ecological Systems TheoryEcological Systems Theory sees the individual as a developing biological-and-experiential being who is nested in and who interacts with five levels of norm-guided, rule-imposing systems: Microsystem (direct influences on the individual), Mesosystem (interacting microsystems), Exosystem (individual's immediate context and a broader community), Macrosystem (the culture), and Chronosystem (environmental, sociohistorical, and life events)
EcopedagogyAn outgrowth of Critical Pedagogy, Ecopedagogy is concerned with understanding and enacting forms of justice that encompass all living forms in the more-than-human world. Ecopedagogy aims to foster a “planetary consciousness” that is grounded in ecoliteracy (conceptual understanding of Earth’s life-enabling natural systems), motivated to respond to growing ecosystemic pressures, and oriented toward remaking economic and political systems.
Educational Management, Administration, and Leadership DiscoursesEducational Administration, Management, and Leadership Discourses have to do with both the day-to-day pragmatics of maintaining an educational institution/system and the more-complex responsibility of seeking out, organizing, and supporting the talents of teachers and students.
Elaboration TheoryElaboration Theory offers advice on how to sequence teaching to optimize learning. Formalizing the commonsense advice to start simple, Elaboration Theory recommends that teaching sequences should first ensure that prerequisites are mastered and then proceed with a simple and personally meaningful version of the task or concept. Subsequent lessons should introduce new levels of complexity.
Embeddedness DiscoursesEmbeddedness Discourses comprise perspectives on learning that refuse separations of self from other and individual from collective. Perceived boundaries among persons and peoples are understood as heuristic conveniences, as collective phenomena are recognized to unfold from and to be enfolded in individual phenomena. Phrased differently, collective forms are understood as learning bodies.
Embodied CognitionEmbodied Cognition asserts that humans are doubly embodied. That is, human cognition simultaneously depends on having a biological body and being part of a socio-cultural corpus. These two nested bodies are intimately intertwined: one’s physical body defines possible movements and ranges of perception; the grander context in which one is embedded defines appropriate actions and the scopes of interpretive possibilities.
Embodied LearningThe phrase Embodied Learning is applied to a wide range of educational perspectives. The only shared detail across these perspectives is a focus on what teachers should do. Advice on actual physical activity varies dramatically, with some commentators advising nothing more than freedom to move, others arguing that movements should be fitted to concepts, and still others emphasizing interacting with virtual worlds.
Embodiment DiscoursesEmbodiment Discourses comprise perspectives on learning that refuse a separation of mental and physical. Mental and physical are understood as integrated and inseparable aspects of the body. Phrased differently, the body is not seen as something that a learner learns through, but as the learner. Correspondingly, behaviors are not seen as goals or indications of learning, but as integral elements of learning.
Emergent Complexity DiscoursesMost, but not all Emergent Complexity Discourses are explicitly aligned with Complex Systems Research – that is, they are concerned with understanding systems that transcend their parts. A uniting theme of Emergent Complexity Discourses is that global behaviors cannot be predicted on the basis of the rules governing the individual agents.
**EmpiricismEmpiricism is more commonly understood as a theory of knowledge than a theory of learning, but the line is often blurred in discussions of education. Empiricism states that knowledge comes from sensory experience, and thus emphasizes the role of experience and evidence. The “hard” version of Empiricism is associated with rigorous scientific research, and the “softer” versions emphasize inquiry, exploration, sense-making, and argumentation.
EnactivismEnactivism positions the knower as an integral and active aspect of grander dynamical systems. That is, the knower is coupled with other knowers and affects while being affected by systems that include the more-than-human environment. Enaction is seen as a process in which a perceiving knower acts creatively to meet the requirements of a situation. Enaction is thus about systemic transformation rather than processing of information.
Entertainment and LearningThe word “entertainment” encompasses any form of engagement that involves fun or amusement. However, within education, the notion has come to focus somewhat on media productions aimed at influencing learning and learners.
EpistemologyEpistemology encompasses all discourses concerned with what knowledge is, its scope and limits, and how it is generated, validated, enacted, and maintained.
ErrorsErrors and mistakes are frequently identified as important – and, often, fecund – sites of learning.
Expansive LearningMost theories associated with formal education assume a backdrop of a stable activity system (part of which is an established curriculum with clear, standard learning outcomes). Expansive Learning, a component of Activity Theory, breaks from this backdrop in two key ways: (1) it sees individuals and organizations as constantly learning, and (2) it recognizes that some of the most important transitions involve new and not-yet-known forms of activity. Expansive Learning is thus a sort of collective activity that is focused on transforming an activity system, opening a wider horizon of possibilities.
Experiential EducationExperiential Education is an umbrella notion that can be applied to any educational method in which practical skills, conceptual understandings, and/or social values are supported through direct experience and focused reflection. Most versions of Experiential Education call for some degree of learner self-direction, and many are oriented toward some manner of social engagement and/or contribution.
Experiential LearningExperiential Learning is, in essence, formalized teaching advice based on the ancient realization that humans learn by doing. Focusing on the individual, it recommends firsthand experiences that should occur in real-world environments, affording the learner concrete experience, opportunity to reflect on that experience, opportunity to develop abstract concepts based on that reflection, and opportunities to experiment to continue the cycle of learning.
Expert–NoviceThe Expert–Novice literature explores the realization that the main difference between expert and novice performance is principally a matter of knowing differently rather than knowing more. Most commentators attribute differences between an expert’s fluid competencies and a novice’s more tentative abilities to the fact that the expert’s are memory-based (and so readily enacted), whereas the novice’s are thought-based (as thus cognitively demanding).
Expressive ConstructivismExpressive Constructivism embraces Radical Constructivism’s models of learning and knowing, and it places a particular emphasis on the role of “re-presentation” – that is, varied modes of expressing one’s emerging construals – as the critical dynamic in human learning. Three categories of expression and identified: internal (thinking), natural (communicative acts), and formal (using symbols, grammars, and other formalism conventions).
Extended CognitionExtended Cognition asserts that, to understand mind, one must look within and across the dynamic interactions of the brain, body, social environments, and physical environments.
Extrinsic Motivation DiscoursesExtrinsic Motivation Discourses focus on motivating influences that come from outside the learner. The core principles are, firstly, that desirable actions can be encouraged through offering rewards and/or withholding punishments, and, secondly, that undesirable actions can be discouraged through withholding rewards and/or threatening punishments.
Facilitation TheoryFacilitation Theory begins with the assertion that a person cannot teach another directly (i.e., there can be no transfer of information or knowledge from one to the other). According to this perspective, that means teaching can only be facilitating – which is seen to reside mainly in the teacher’s authenticity, caring, and empathy.
Feminist PedagogyFeminist Pedagogy is a Critical Pedagogy that shares its activist goals around raising consciousness and decentering power, but that generally places more emphasis on interrogating the notion of “essential identity,” analyzing gender norms, respecting difference, fostering teacher–student relationships, formatting content in personally meaningful ways, and seeking resonances across individual and mutual goals.
Flex Model of LearningThe Flex Model of Learning encompasses learner-directed blends of on-screen and face-to-face learning. Student schedules are flexible and individually customized. Most instruction is online, with the teacher serving more as an on-site resource with responsibilities of overseeing group projects, offering small-group instruction, and providing individual tutoring.
Flipped ClassroomFlipped Classroom is a type of Blended Learning that inverts the traditional structure of in-class instruction and out-of-class practice. In a Flipped Classroom, online lectures and lessons are accessed at home, and classroom time is devoted to activities to support understanding.
FlowFlow is characterized by intense concentration on an achievable goal or task with deep, yet effortless immersion. Flow requires tasks that promise success and offer immediate feedback. To enter a flow state, one must have autonomy over the situation or activity. A Flow state is an energizing and pleasurable experience during which one might lose awareness one’s sense of self and other things – including time sometimes.
Folk TheoriesFolk Theories exist within every realm of human engagement. They are, in effect, uncritical and often-indefensible principles of action and interpretation that are woven through everyday language and broad cultural sensibilities. In effect, most of the past 150 years of research into learning has been focused on exposing Folk Theories and exploring more conscious and scientifically robust alternatives.
FoundationalismFoundationalism is a formalization of the Construction Metaphor. Invoking the image of a building, the perspective argues that justified beliefs rest atop other justified beliefs, all of which ultimately sit atop a foundation of unquestionable (or, at least, unquestioned) truth.
Functional ContextualismFunctional Contextualism is a Cognitivist perspective on instruction that emphasizes relevance. For instance, topics should be made as relevant as possible by linking to learners’ established understandings. Activities should be made relevant by using materials and equipment that learners will actually be using after completing their studies. Assessment should be relevant to the particular learners and their particular situations.
**Gaia HypothesisAuthors of the Gaia Hypothesis propose that the interactions of living organisms and their inorganic environments on Earth form a complex (emergent, self-regulating, evolving) system. Importantly, “Gaia” is not seen as an organism, but the system of “organic co-evolving with/in inorganic” – and that system is posited to maintain the conditions for life.
Games and LearningGames and Learning encompasses research into the use of games in learning environments. Subtopics include creation of social and cultural worlds, communities of game play, and use of game-generated data. Currently the most prominent themes revolve around design principles to support student engagement, Meaningful Learning, learner self-concept, brain development, social interaction, and collaborative knowledge production.
GamificationBroadly speaking, Gamification refers to the use of elements and principles of game-design in non-game situations. Within education, Gamification is typically focused on making learning activities more engaging. Sub-interests span such topics as student efficacy, Learning Transfer, identity formation, real-time feedback, problem solving, scaffolded learning, and social connection.
Generational TheoryGenerational Theory addresses differences in learner attitude and behavior that are asserted to be associated with historical events and/or times of birth.
Genetic EpistemologyGenetic Epistemology is a theory of the genesis/origins of knowing/epistemology, in which learning is framed as an adaptive process in which the principal criteria of personal truth are coherence among elements of understanding and their utility for making sense of one’s own experience, not match between internal, subjective interpretations and external, objective reality. Cognitive Developmentalism is a key element of Genetic Epistemology.
**GestaltismIn Gestaltism, an individual’s mind is seen as a global whole that generates its own reality. Gestaltism embraced notions of self-organization and emergence in descriptions of the mind as arising in the interactions of but transcending its parts. Gestaltism thus rejected Behaviorisms and other theories that rely on Newtonian mechanics to describe and/or explain cognition.
**Global Brain HypothesisThe Global Brain Hypothesis is inspired by the perceived similarities between the world-wide web and the brain (e.g., analogies include webpages–neurons, hyperlinks–synapses, social-networks–neural-networks). Proponents contend that, through the Internet, humans are increasingly linked into a single information processing system that is analogous to a nervous system.
GritGrit refers to both a personality trait and a psychological discourse. The trait is typically described in terms of a perseverance of effort and a goal-oriented passion. In psychology, the notion is associated with such concepts as hardiness, resilience, perseverance, positivity, and conscientiousness.
Group Development TheoriesGroup Development Theories comprise a host of models and perspectives intended to interpret the evolution of task-oriented collectives. Prominent foci of the many different theories include sequences of development-based stages, clusters of purpose-based phrases, typologies of conflict-focused dynamics, and cycles of evolutionary transformation.
Human Behavioral EcologyHuman Behavioral Ecology is a Behaviorism that combines the notion of optimization with evolutionary theory to make sense of behavioral diversity within social, cultural, and intercultural contexts. (Most Behaviorisms look principally to external reward structures to explain diverse behaviors.)
**Human EnhancementThe term Human Enhancement is used to collect any attempt to overcome current limitations or amplify current possibilities. While such efforts can be through natural or artificial means, the overwhelming emphasis is on technology-mediated enhancements (e.g., medications, supplements, implants, bio-engineering, wearables, offloads/uploads).
**HumanismsHumanisms encompass a range of perspectives that reject any system of belief that relies on spirits, deities, or other mystical forces as sources or arbiters of truth. Humanisms assert that humans can and must generate insight for themselves. The sensibility dates back millennia, but its most powerful articulations have been relatively recent, starting with the Enlightenment and the associated rises of Empiricism and Rationalism.
HypercorrectionA Hypercorrection can occur when one learns that a strongly held truth or conviction is false or indefensible. Owing to the psychological impact of such a realization, one might resolve never to repeat the error. Some educationists have attempted to utilize this effect to encourage and consolidate student learning.
**IdealismIdealism might perhaps be better dubbed “idea-ism.” It refers to a range of perspectives that assert that ideas are the only true reality. Most Idealisms accept that there is a material world, but that world is seen to be lesser – subject to change, unstable, uncertain, and corruptible.
Identity DiscoursesIdentity Discourses do not separate one’s knowing, one’s doing, and one’s being. Consequently, “learning” is tied to all aspects of one’s ever-evolving identity. How and what is learned, then, is not shaped by pre-given and measurable personal traits (compare: Learner Trait Discourses); rather, how and what is learned has everything to do with how and what has been learned.
Identity Status TheoryIdentity Status Theory is an elaboration of Psychosocial Development Theory. Identity Status Theory replaces the suggestion that adolescence involves a need to resolve an “Identity vs. Role Confusion” tension with the assertion that adolescence is more about exploration of identifications from a range of life domains (e.g., social groups, religion, vocation, gender roles).
Illumination MetaphorThe Illumination Metaphor frames knowledge and learning in terms of visibility and clarity. Perhaps most commonly encountered in phrases such as “I see” – meaning, “I understand” – the Illumination Metaphor tends to be coupled with either the Acquisition Metaphor’s version of knowledge (i.e., there’s an object to be seen) or the Nativism’s version of knowledge (i.e., there’s an inner truth to be pulled into the light).
Immersion MetaphorThe Immersion Metaphor is typically invoked as a means to “explain” how learners come to manifest mannerisms, habits, and sensibilities of a broader community without obvious practice or deliberate teaching.
In-/Non-Formal LearningThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines three forms of learning: Formal Learning usually involves certified teachers, accredited curricula, and institutional settings. Non-Formal Learning (sometimes called Incidental Learning) refers to structured learning situations in which one or more of the elements mentioned in the previous sentence is absent. All of those elements are absent in Informal Learning, which is not oriented by or structured around explicit learning outcomes – and which, from the point of view of the learner, is never intentional.
Incidental LearningIncidental Learning refers to learning that is a “by-product” of some other activity – that is, to learning that occurs without specific motivation or focused instruction. Incidental Learning may or may not be implicit. It is typically spontaneous and unstructured. The notion was developed in acknowledgment of the great deal learned by all humans without explicit intention or instruction.
Information Pickup TheoryInformation Pickup Theory redefines both information and pickup. Information is understood in terms of triggering the perceiver – that is, information becomes information when it is noticed by the learner. Pickup is similarly defined. Here it means something like “noticing” or “resonating” Information becomes meaningful through pickup. Perceiving is thus more a matter of “resonating with” or “occasioning” than “taking in” or “processing.” (Compare Information Processing Theory.)
Information Processing TheoryInformation Processing Theory combines Cognitivism and Developmentalist Discourses. As it aims to offer an account of mental development in which information-processing notions are applied literally (i.e., the mind is asserted to be a computer) to interpret growth, maturation, and evolving abilities to make sense of the world. (Compare Information Pickup Theory.)
Inquiry-Based LearningInquiry-Based Learning was designed to interrupt assumptions of context-free knowledge, passive learning, and smooth paths to understanding. It focuses on pursuing authentic interests, posing researchable questions, and participating in knowledge production. Several types of Inquiry-Based Learning have been described, varying on matters of teacher role, learner autonomy, and flexibility of focus.
Instructional Design ModelsInstructional Design Models are usually articulated as frameworks and rubrics to support systematic design, development, and presentation of lessons or sequences of lessons. There are many variations, but most Instructional Design Models involve identifying learning needs, specifying desired outcomes, crafting a plan to achieve those outcomes, and devising a strategy to assess whether the outcomes are achieved.
InstructivismInstructivism is a generic term used in reference to teacher-directed learning contexts. Currently, the term is most often heard as a pejorative. Thus, Instructivism is typically described in terms of teacher-centered and delivery-focused lessons in which passive, undifferentiated learners are expected to master pre-specified content. It is also associated with directive modes of teaching inspired by Behaviorisms.
Integrative LearningIntegrative Learning is a movement, principally in post-secondary education and especially among the STEM domains, concerned with designing lessons to help learners make connections – across disciplinary knowledges, skills, interpretive practices, investigative methods, problem-solving strategies, verification techniques, and so on.
Intelligence AmplificationIntelligence Amplification is an umbrella term used to refer to the uses of information technologies to augment human intelligence.
**InteractionismInteractionism focuses on meaning that arises in face-to-face social interactions as it studies how individuals shape and are shaped by society. It is especially interested in understanding how individuals act and how they see themselves in their social contexts.
InterbehaviorismInterbehaviorism was developed in the mid-20th century, largely in response to Behaviorisms that were rising in popularity and influence. Interbehaviorism rejects dichotomies (e.g., inner vs. outer, self vs. other, mental vs. behavior), problematizes mechanistic assumptions (e.g., cause–effect), and reasserts that humans have agency. The theory highlighted the reflexive interactions of the learner and the context.
InterobjectivityInterobjectivity assumes that knowing is doing is being. That is, knowledge of the world – knowing – exists in agents’ actions and interactions with/in the systems that comprise them.
Interpersonal TheoryInterpersonal Theory describes seven developmental stages between infancy and late adolescence, each defined according to significant others (e.g., mother; friends; lover), interpersonal dynamics. Failure to meet critical challenges at any stage can result in anxieties that can hamper (sometimes prevent) learning from one’s experiences.
IntersubjectivityIntersubjectivity refers to the perspective that human knowledge has to do with social accord, both implicit and explicit. Collective knowledge is seen to unfold from and be enfolded in individual knowing.
Intrinsic Motivation DiscoursesIntrinsic Motivation Discourses focus on events and activities that are driven by interest or pleasure in engaging, rather than by external pressures or rewards. Some consensus has arisen around the assertion that there are at least two common elements to intrinsically motivating tasks, namely self-determination (i.e., the actor chooses to engage) and improvement (i.e., the actor must perceive increased competence through engaging).
IntrospectionIntrospection is the examination of one’s own mental states, which includes awareness sensory, bodily, cognitive, emotional, and other states. It is most often considered as a means of learning, operating alongside perception, reason, memory, and testimony. As such, it is usually encountered as an aspect of other theories (e.g., Reflective Practice, Metacognition) rather than being engaged as a theory itself.
Invitational LearningInvitational Learning is a perspective on education that begins by asserting four essential human traits: trust (that one will find one’s best way to do things), respect (of others), optimism (with regard to the vastness of human possibility), and intentionality (to do good with/for others). These traits are seen to be developed through “five Ps” – people (mostly teachers), places (mostly school-based), policies (rules), programs (curriculum), and processes – which can be either disinviting or inviting.
Knowledge BuildingKnowledge Building focuses on the processes used by a community of individuals to create and hone cognitive artefacts. Engagement in such processes should support the development individuals’ knowledge on the topic. Knowledge Building addresses personal and interpersonal skills useful in such processes, offering practical advice on modes of questioning, qualities of dialogue, and attitudes toward evolving ideas.
Knowledge in PiecesKnowledge in Pieces characterizes learning as transformation from one complex system into another as bits and pieces are integrated. Closely connected, learning is seen to happen across multiple (i.e. short- and long-term) time scales. As well, there is a strong emphasis on building models of different types of knowledge and concepts.
Knowledge TransferKnowledge Transfer refers to means and methods of moving knowledge among parts of an organization to enable innovation and problem solving. Knowledge Transfer is complex because knowledge is more than information, much knowledge is not explicit, and knowledge tends to be distributed. Various types and locations of knowledge in an organization are proposed, including embrained, embodied, encultured, embedded, and encoded.
Labeling TheoryLabeling Theory is focused on how terms used to describe or classify people may contribute to their self-identifications and behaviors. Among its subthemes, Labeling Theory critically examines stereotypes, deviance, and mental illness. Most versions problematize such notions, defining them as adherence to or departure from cultural norms.
Language-Focused DiscoursesLanguage-Focused Discourses attend to the role of symbol systems in constituting and maintaining knowers’ realities, as well as to their role is enabling and constraining personal possibilities within those realities.
Learner Trait DiscoursesLearner Trait Discourses define “learning” narrowly in terms of what a “learner” does, from which it follows that the characteristics of the learner will define the learning that happens. (Compare: Identity Discourses)
Learner-Centered DesignLearner-Centered Design is concerned specifically with creating adaptive software to support learners in ways that are simultaneously tailored to group activity and targeted to specific individual needs.
Learning AnalyticsLearning Analytics is most often understood in terms of collecting and analyzing data on learners and their situations in order to improve their learning. It is principally focused engagements that have pronounced digital components, which enable tracking of learner choices, time on task, patterns of error, and so on.
Learning by TeachingLearning by Teaching is a strategy where students learn material through preparing and teaching lessons to other students. Students are encouraged to experiment with different methods and are responsible for ensuring that other students understand the material. Students’ teaching is supported by the classroom teacher.
Learning CommunityA Learning Community is a group of learners with sufficiently compatible interests, attitudes, and circumstances to support and influence one another in the pursuit of a shared goal or compatible goals – typically an advanced credential.
Learning Cycle MetaphorThe metaphor of a Learning Cycle is an explicit alternative to the imagery implicit in linearized conceptions of learning. Rather than casting learning as an accumulative process, the metaphor of a Learning Cycle channels attention to the roles experience and reflection. That is, learning is imaged not as lines, steps, and progress, but as iterative loops, elaborations, and growth.
Learning DesignLearning Design encompasses all activities associated with the development of practices, tasks, resources, and technologies intended to support meaningful and engaged learning in a particular situation. Learning Design discourses are the teaching-focused complement of Emergent Complexity Discourses, which are more focused on the adaptive dynamics of learning systems than on the pragmatics of influencing learning.
Learning EnvironmentLearning Environment refers broadly to all aspects – philosophical, cultural, social, disciplinary, operational, physical, and so on – of a situation intended to support learning.
Learning OrganizationA Learning Organization is a team or company that attends to the co-entangled phenomena of the learning of its members and its continuous transformation. Learnings at both the individual and collective level are understood to be motivated by pressures to be current and competitive in the business ecosystem.
Learning PyramidThe Learning Pyramid is a ranking of the effectiveness of different activities that are intended to support learning. Activities involving active engagement are associated with more robust learning learning, and less-active engagements are associated with with unreliable learning.
Learning SciencesLearning Sciences aims to extend understandings of learning and efforts to influence learning. Concerned with the neurological, psychological, social, and cultural dimensions of learning, Learning Sciences is prominently focused on improving education through creating, studying, and modifying technologies and environments to support learning.
Learning Styles TheoriesLearning Styles Theories comprise dozens of discourses that purport to characterize and categorize ways that individuals take in information. The most popular versions focus on diverse perceptual preferences (e.g., hearing versus seeing), modes of engagement (e.g., active doing versus passive watching), and format of information (e.g., concrete versus abstract), but the spectra span such concerns as social structures, affective settings, and time of day.
Learning Toys and ToolsTechnically, “Learning Toys and Tools” can include any object that invites play and stimulates learning. In more precise usage, Learning Toys and Tools includes objects that are deliberately designed for children, to support the development of specific skills and/or the understanding of specific concepts.
Learning TransferLearning Transfer refers to instances of applying what is learned in one setting/task to an identifiably different setting/task. The extent to which it happens depends on such factors as the similarity of the situations, the motivations of the learner, mastery of the content, and prompts and interpretive assistance from a knowledgeable other. Various taxonomies (of types of transfer) and strategies (to encourage transfer) have been developed.
Learning-by-DoingLearning-by-Doing is blends the principles that learning should be active (rather than passive), relevant (rather than seemingly arbitrary), and practical (rather than entirely theoretical). Learning-by-Doing is a foundational tenet of Progressivism and the many perspectives on influencing learning that are associated with the movement.
Learning-Machine DiscoursesLearning-Machine Discourses focus on the use of digital technologies to make sense of the phenomenon of learning and to augment human possibility. On those matters, some are principally concerned with theoretical insights, while others are driven mainly by pragmatic interests.
Levels of Learning ModelsLevels of Learning Models focus on what is to be learned rather than how learning happens. Typically, such models are generic (i.e., not discipline specific), and they tend to be presented as hierarchies, trajectories, sequences, or cycles. Most date to the mid-20th century, with Bloom’s Taxonomy being by far the best known.
Lifelong LearningThe core assertion of Lifelong Learning is that learning is constant, present in every activity and every interaction. The perspective is typically introduced as a reaction to the notion that formal education (i.e., school and similar settings) is the main location to learn and the workplace is the main place to apply learnings. The discourse also reflects broadened learning expectations fitted to the contemporary world.
M-LearningM-Learning is, concisely, a mobile mode of formal education that involves, to varying extents, the use of phones and other personal devices to engage with content, connect to teachers, and interact with peers – at times and in places that are convenient to the learner.
Machine LearningMachine Learning encompasses all efforts and strategies to structure and program machines to improve their performances on specific tasks. In these applications, “learning” is usually defined in operational rather than cognitive terms – that is, in terms of measurable improvements in performance that are due to changes in the machine’s structure, programs, or data. Many strategies are under development, employing different computer architectures and a range of logics.
Maker EducationMaker Education is a collaborative, hands-on, problem- or project-based approach that emphasizes prototyping and repurposing objects to innovate. Maker Education focuses on developing insights into how things work and thus eschews prefabricated kits and models. In schools, Maker Education is learner driven and emphasizes interdisciplinarity, iteration (cycles of building and revising), and peer-to-peer teaching.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of NeedsMaslow’s Hierarchy of Needs categorizes and ranks human needs, based on the assumption that more basic needs must be met before on will be motivated to achieve higher-level needs. The model culminates with self-actualization, an excellence-oriented “metamotivation” mode that can only be engaged if all more basic “deficiency needs” are met.
Mastery LearningMastery Learning is an instructional strategy built on the premise that each student must demonstrate a high level of competence and confidence with prerequisite topics before moving to more advanced topics. With Mastery Learning, responsibility for student failure is laid mainly at the feet of the teacher, and so strategies and pace are adjusted to suit the learner until the required level of mastery is met.
**MaterialismsMaterialisms assert that everything in the universe is matter-based. Even ideas and consciousness are seen as the result of material interactions. Most materialisms accept evolutionary theory. Correspondingly, all reject notions of spirits, spirituality, fates, and deities as useful or valid explanatory devices. There are many varieties at play in theories of learning.
MaturationismIn Maturationism, learning is seen more as a natural unfolding from within rather than accumulating information from outside. Most advocates focus only on young learners, attending especially to language learning. Concisely, it is believed that what and when a child learns follows a universal sequence, the pace of which is determined by the individual’s genetics.
Meaning-Making MetaphorWithin the Meaning-Making Metaphor, learning is interpreted in terms of making sense of self, experience, and relationships. The notion falls short of a theory, but it is often invoked in a manner that suggests it is explanatory. That said, the Meaning-Making Metaphor serves as a component of many theories of learning – especially among Coherence Discourses.
Meaningful LearningMeaningful Learning is typically invoked as a contrast to Rote Learning. Explicitly, it refers mainly the comprehensibility of the topics under study, but the term is actually used most often as an implicit reference to classroom strategies that emphasize building on established understandings, learner engagement, inquiry, and empowering learners.
Meaningful Learning TheoryMeaningful Learning is an attempt to translate the insights of a various current theories of learning into practical advice for teaching. That advice clusters around three main foci: Relevance (content should be meaningful – or, at least, potentially meaningful); Readiness (learners must already be familiar with concepts that can be associated with the new content); Motivation (learners must choose to relate and integrate new content)
Medical Model of (Dis)AbilityThe Medical Model of (Dis)Ability and Motivation Theories complement one another. The former address what learners can/can’t do, and the latter deal with what learners will/won’t do. A comprehensive analysis of the Medical Model of (Dis)Ability is beyond our interests and purpose, and so, in the elaborated entry, we offer brief summaries of the many, many contemporary discourses, categorized as “Models and Types of Intelligence,” “Types of Disabilities,” and “Types of Learning Disorders.”
**MemeticsMemetics is a theory of cultural evolution that is focused on the creation, development, perpetuation, and propagation of “memes.” A meme is an idea, habit, song, or any other unit of culture that can be copied from one person to another. The word is derived from roots that have to do with imitation, intended to signal that a meme is analogous to a gene.
Memory ResearchOften used as a synonym to “learning,” memory is more specific and applies to the ability to recall something learned after a period of time. Memory Research thus look at multiple memory systems – that vary according to the type of memory, the location of the memory, the extent of conscious control, the manner of maintenance, the span of preservation, and the role in learning. Several categories and varieties of memory have been identified and studied.
Mental Model TheoryA “mental model” is a web of beliefs and/or truths that is assumed by a knower to mirror some aspect of reality. The model thus affords a confidence that the situation at hand is understood, and so the knower experiences it as a coherent and sufficient basis for acting and predicting – even though it might be logically flawed and/or empirically false.
MentalismsMentalisms reach across any theory that (1) assumes a separation of mental from physical (inner from outer, subjective from objective, etc.) and (2) casts learning in terms of mental images, models, encodings, or other inner representations of the existing world. Some sort of barrier – typically the body, or fallible senses, or faulty subjective interpretations – is seen to prevent direct, first-hand knowledge of reality.
MetacognitionLiterally meaning “beyond knowing,” Metacognition refers to “thinking about thinking” – that is, being critically aware of perceptions and interpretations as they happen. More pragmatically, Metacognition attends to abilities both to self-monitor and self-regulate, oriented by the conviction that such capabilities will enhance learning.
Methodological BehaviorismMethodological Behaviorism is among the earliest and most prescriptive versions of Behaviorism. It is distinctive in its willingness to hypothesize about cognitive processes as the cause of behaviors. (To be clear, it embraced empirical, observation-based research methods and rejected introspective methods which focused on mental activity.)
MindfulnessMindfulness refers to a broad category of concepts and practices that have been rapidly gaining popularity over recent decades. Within education, definitions and applications tend to revolve around the meditation practices associated with being focused on and aware of one’s experiences in the present moment. Such practices are linked to improved psychological health, self-knowledge, social aptitude.
MindsetMindset is focused on the relationship between learners’ conceptions of themselves and their attitudes toward learning. It distinguishes between two types of mindset, fixed and growth. Learners with a fixed mindset typically see ability as fixed and learning in terms of a performance that reflects that ability. Learners with a growth mindset typically see ability in more expansive terms, defined at least in part by the effort put forth.
Model of Hierarchical ComplexityThe Model of Hierarchical Complexity is a 16-stage Developmentalism that is claimed to be applicable across species and cultures, to both individuals and collectives, and to both machines and organisms. Based on how information is organized, each stage is defined in terms of mathematical processes that are necessary to subsequent levels.
Modes of ReasoningModes of Reasoning refers to a range of conscious processes used to derive or validate assertions based on established understandings. It is most commonly associated with logical deduction, but humans actually use a range of strategies to generate their truths, including Inductive Reasoning (Bottom-Up Logic), Abductive Reasoning, Analogical Reasoning, and Bounded Rationality. There is broad debate over the relative importance of each of type.
Modularity of MindModularity of Mind asserts that the brain has a modular structure. Opinions vary on the extent of its modularity, but they tend to converge around the points that (1) those modules are rooted in the evolution of the species (i.e., they are mainly biologically determined) and (2) each module has a distinct function (which is useful for accounting for differences in aptitudes and abilities across individuals).
Moral Development TheoryMoral Development Theory posits distinct stages in the emergence of one’s moral judgement. At lower levels, self is at the center and decisions are made on the basis of external considerations. Social considerations arise at middle levels. Higher levels are oriented by societal, environmental, and other broad concerns.
Motivation TheoriesMotivation Theories are attempts to explain the “why” of human action, and most of them are developed around lists of factors. It is difficult to offer overarching categories of these theories, but we find a trio of distinctions to be helpful: Extrinsic Motivation vs. Intrinsic Motivation; Conscious Motivations vs. Unconscious Motivations; Drives/Needs/Desires Theories vs. Cognitive Motivation Theories. Over the past half-century, trends in formal education have shifted from extrinsic, unconscious, drives/needs/desires to intrinsic, conscious, cognitive.
Multisensory LearningMultisensory Learning begins with the awareness that concepts are distributed across entire networks that span multiple regions of the brain. That is, the brain integrates prompts from all sensory systems already consolidated-but-ever-evolving concepts and protoconcepts. Its core advice is thus to aim for a broad spectrum of active and sensorially diverse engagements when learning a concept.
Mysticism- & Religion-Aligned DiscoursesWestern Mysticism- & Religion-Aligned Discourses, while diverse and varied, tend to embrace and perpetuate some rather specific beliefs about learning and teaching. In particular, there is a pervasive assumption that all truth is pre-existent and present out in the universe – resident in an ideal realm, or in a creator’s mind, inscribed in material forms, and so on.
NativismNativism asserts that personal knowledge, understanding, and ability are innate rather than acquired or developed. It is rooted in Plato’s “Innatism,” which asserted that one cannot learn what one did not previously know. Hence, all learning is merely remembering or recalling. Nativism embraces the same notion, but frames it in terms of genetics and psychology, arguing that beliefs and knowledge are programmed into minds.
Nature vs. NurtureNature vs. Nurture refers to a longstanding popular debate on the relative influences of heredity and experience on one’s learning, abilities, and identity. In one way or another, almost every theory of learning weighs in on the matter, especially since the early 1900s when some Behaviorisms challenged centuries of assumption by asserting that all human behavior is environmentally determined.
Network of PracticeNetwork of Practice (NoP) is an umbrella notion that includes all forms of social networks – especially those mediated electronically – that support production and distribution of knowledge among individuals with common, practice-related goals. NoPs offer few guidelines regarding individual obligations around contributions, and they place limited emphasis on interpersonal relationship (hence the use of “network” rather than “community”).
Networked LearningAs its name suggests, Networked Learning is concerned with the learner’s connections – with other learners, with information, through learning resources, via open communication.
Neuro-Focused DiscoursesNeuro-Focused Discourses frame brain function and thought in terms of vibrant complex systems that arise in, are coupled to, and are elements of many and varied other complex forms. Researchers have been seeking to understand educational implications of the brain’s networked structure, its lifelong plasticity, and many other emerging insights.
NeuroconstructivismNeurosconstructivism is articulated as a critique of popular beliefs that the brain is innately modularized. Neurosconstructivism sees specialization of brain regions – and, consequently, learning and competence – in terms of various sorts of interaction that channel development rather than genetic determination.
NeurodiversityNeurodiversity is a perspective on individual difference that casts such conditions as autism and learning disabilities not as deficits or disorders, but as variations to the human genome that may be vital in the survival of the species. Neurodiversity is thus both a theory of difference based on evolution and a social justice movement that locates neurological difference alongside gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and other broadly recognized diversities.
NeuroeducationNeuroeducation weaves among neuroscience, psychology, educational technology, and other relevant disciplines in studies of the interactions of biological processes and educational efforts. Its broad aim is to generate a research base that will inform and orient teaching in a comprehensive and coherent way.
NeuroenhancementNeuroenhancement is an umbrella term that refers to improving cognitive functions and abilities through pharmacological and medical means. Pharmacological agents include an array of substances to improve vigilance, attention, concentration, mood, executive function, wakefulness, memory, and physical performance. Non-pharmacological measures involve electrical brain stimulation and brain–machine interfaces.
NeurophenomenologyNeurophenomenology combines Neuroscience (the study of the brain, from a third-person perspective) with Phenomenology (the study of conscious experience, from a first-person perspective). It figures prominently in many contemporary theories of learning.
NeuroplasticityNeuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change throughout the lifespan. Changes include, but are not limited to, strengthening and weakening of synapses, establishing and losing connectivity, transfer of functions to different locations, and changes to proportions of grey matter.
**NeuroscienceNeuroscience is a multidisciplinary branch of biology that focuses on the structure, functions, and development of the nervous system. With a scope that spans the thousands of distinguishable substructures between the molecular to the cognitive, Neuroscience combines domains as varied as molecular biology, physiology, and psychology (among many others) while it has given rise to many other disciplines.
Non-Trivial ConstructivismsNon-Trivial Constructivisms encompass a range of learning theories that invoke a “learning as construing” – vs. a “learning as constructing” – metaphor. The construing–constructing distinction is critical, and it became an issue because the French verb construire can be translated as either “to construe” (i.e., to integrate elements to make sense of) or “to construct” (i.e., to build something).
Nonassociative LearningNonassociative Learning occurs when an organism’s responses to a stimulus change, with no apparent influence from learning events.
ObjectivityObjectivity is the suggestion that real, reliable, truthful knowledge should be object-like, manifesting such qualities as stability, rigidity, inertness, replicability, decomposability, measurability, value-freeness, and situation-independence.
Observational LearningAs its name suggests, Observational Learning is concerned with learning that occurs through observing – and, most often, observing others. It frequently occurs without any apparent externally administered reinforcement – and so, while it tends to lean heavily on both Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning, it also draws on a range of theories that address social and cultural dynamics.
Occupational TherapyOccupational Therapy is focused on enabling fullest participation in meaningful, everyday activities of individuals of all ages, social groups, or communities. Foci include therapeutic remediation of diagnosed mental health and physical issues.
Operant ConditioningOperant Conditioning is a branch of Behaviorisms that is concerned with non-reflexive, voluntary behaviors that are under the learners’ control. It deals with rewarding or punishing target behaviors to increase or decrease their manifestation.
Optimal LearningOptimal Learning is a contested term, used to refer to methods and emphases that are drawn from or informed by a variety of sensibilities. For example, among the three most prominent versions, one focuses on learner well-being, another on teacher effectiveness, and another on strategies for efficient gathering of useful information.
**Organizational LearningOrganizational Learning attends to the creation, maintenance, and movement of knowledge in an organization. These dynamics are understood to occur across four distinct levels simultaneously: individual, team, organizational, and interorganizational.
**Organizational MetacognitionOrganizational Metacognition refers to an awareness of what an organization knows. Such knowledge includes insight into what enables and constrains learning.
Originality TheoryOriginality Theory is one of the few Behaviorisms that deals with creative action. “Originality” refers to relatively infrequent behavior that it unlikely in but relevant to given conditions. Three methods to increase originality are identified: 1) presenting an uncommon stimulus situation that can’t be met with available responses, 2) evoking diverse responses to the same stimulus situation, and 3) evoking uncommon responses as textual responses.
Paradigm ShiftsBy definition, a “paradigm” is a model or iconic image of something. In the context of discussions of cultural knowledge, the word has come to refer more broadly to internally consistent clusters of concepts, assumptions, and activities. The theory of Paradigm Shifts asserts that the major dynamic in cultural knowledge is not gradual growth, but successive transitions from one paradigm to another – often experienced as revolutionary.
Path-Following MetaphorThe Path-Following metaphor is pervasive, both across discourses on learning and within the defining structures of modern schooling. It is invoked, for example, in such phrases as “moving along,” “making progress,” “getting somewhere,” “setting goals,” and “looking ahead." And it is evident is such formal educational structures as curriculum, grading, and progress reports.
Perceptual Learning TheoryPerceptual Learning Theory breaks with a centuries-old assumption that the information from sensory receptors is jumbled and meaningless. Perceptual Learning Theory asserts that sensory information is already richly imbued with structure, and so the organism’s task is to detect it, not add it. An organism does not learn to perceive; it perceives to learn.
Personal Agency DiscoursesPersonal Agency Discourses address matters related to involving individuals in decisions that define their educational experience. These discourses tend to be grounded in the assumption that the individual learner can and should be trusted to participate in selecting topics, competency levels, learning environments, pacing, and other elements.
Personal Construct TheoryPersonal Construct Theory is oriented by the assertion that anticipation and prediction are the main drivers of cognition. That is, one builds, tests, and constantly modifies theories to anticipate events and influence others. These subjective theories are seen to be assembled from “constructs,” each of which is a continuum with two extremes (e.g., large–small, happy–sad, clear–turgid).
Personality PsychologyPersonality Psychology focuses on and seeks to understand differences among individuals – where “personality” is understood as a pattern of thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and motivations, as summoned by different conditions and situations.
Personality Types TheoriesPersonality Types Theories comprise dozens of perspectives and tests focused on defining, componentizing, and quantifying personalities, typically by focusing on distinguishing traits.
Personalized LearningPersonalized Learning involves adjusting strategies, pace, content, aims, and feedback to fit the learner’s current needs – which entails considerations of both the individual and the situation. Ideally, such tailoring in not just for the learner, but also by the learner. That is, the individual should be involved in decisions. Typically (and increasingly), information and communication technologies play a role in Personalized Learning.
**PhenomenologyPhenomenology might be better construed as a discourse on “unlearning” than a discourse on “learning.” It begins with the assertion that the world one experiences is not the world as it is, but the world as one has learned to perceive it. It seeks to break with familiar acceptance of “how things are” and to interrogate what phenomena were like before we learned to perceive them.
Phenomenon-Based LearningPhenomenon-Based Learning begins with a critique of the parsed and decontextualized nature of traditional, discipline-based schooling. At its name suggests, Phenomenon-Based Learning is developed around a specific topic, object, person, happening, or concept – which should be authentic to learners, interdisciplinary, contextualized, concrete, and derived from the real world.
Plant CognitionPlant Cognition is a research domain concerned with experimentally testing plants’ capabilities to perceive, respond to, and learn from interactions and other experiences/stimuli. Some sub-interests include root interactions, plant spatial awareness, plant social systems, plants learning to anticipate through Classical Conditioning, plant decision-making triggered by environmental stresses, and possible similarities between plant structures and animal nervous systems.
Play-Based LearningPlay-Based Learning attends to what might be learned during “play” – a notion that is, of course, dependent on how “play” is defined.
Positioning TheoryPositioning Theory is a Social Constructionism that defines a “position” as an assemblage of rights and duties, which is non-permanent, situational, and disputable. It starts with the observation that positions can vary dramatically, and it focuses on the roles and deployments of discourse – including word choice, metaphor, rhetorical strategy, tone – in positioning selves and others.
Positive PsychologyPositive Psychology is the scientific study of “the good life” – phrased variously as “flourishing,” “happiness,” “positivity,” “well-being,” “positive functioning,” “quality of life,” “meaningful life,” “well-lived and fulfilling life,” “life worth living,” and “what holds greatest value in life.”
**PositivismPositivism asserts that the highest standard of truth is scientific fact – which, it is further asserted, can only be derived through observation, experimentation, and other direct experiences of phenomena.
**Post-StructuralismPost-Structuralism is a response to earlier theories. Asserting that neither underlying structures (i.e., Structuralism) nor subjective experience (i.e., Phenomenology) are adequate to understand the meaning and significance of an object, Post-Structuralism argues that such understanding entails interrogation/deconstruction of both what is present (i.e., the meaningful/significant object) and what is absent (i.e., the mostly implicit systems of knowledge that define the object and render it meaningful/significant).
Postcognitivist DiscoursesPostcognitivist Discourses reject those discourses that frame cognition in terms of symbolic manipulation and information processing. Postcognitivist Discourses include a wide range of perspectives and foci, but they are united in at least two important grounding assumptions. Firstly, they invoke evolutionary dynamics to describe and explain learning. Secondly, all are compatible with Complex Systems Research.
PracticeMost discourses on Practice are concerned with how to structure rehearsal in ways that enhance competence and/or comprehension. Advice varies according to the level and type of functioning or expertise desired – ranging from unreflective repetition that’s aimed at automatic action to highly structured and meticulously analyzed exercise that’s intended to support high-level performance.
**PragmatismPragmatism, learning and thought are not about internal representations of external reality, but about ever-evolving, experience-based webs of interpretation that channel perceptions, frame actions, enable predictions, and support problem solving. Language, science, beliefs, mathematics, and so on are all understood in terms of their practical uses – not as labels or truthful depictions, but as coherences and useful shared fictions.
Predictive CodingPredictive Coding describes how the brain uses predicted sensory input to generate an expected model of the world. Contradictions in predicted and actual sensory input lead to updates and revisions of the model.
Premodern Formal EducationWhile there are many, many modes of Premodern Education, we use the term here to refer to the immediate precursors to modern schooling, such as the ancient Greek academy, the medieval university, and the early church school. In these settings, there was a tendency to define formal education in terms of maintaining order and Truth – that is, in terms of countering chaos and immorality.
Primate CognitionPrimate Cognition is a branch of Animal Cognition that focuses on how non-human primates think and act. An emphasis is on higher-order thinking skills and consciousness – topics engaged most often for their utility in understanding human cognition. Other prominent topics include tool manufacture and use, cooperative hunting strategies, social organizations, manipulative behaviors, problem solving, and capacities to use symbol-based systems.
PrimingPriming is said to occur when prior exposure to a stimulus or cluster of stimuli (e.g., an image, a smell, a phrase, an opinion, a social situation) influences one’s response to a later, related stimulus. Most often, Priming is experienced as a non-conscious prompting or inclination.
Problem-Based LearningProblem-Based Learning is a small-group-based classroom approach that is structured around open-ended problems. The orienting goal is not a defined solution, but the development of knowledge, communication skills, and collaborative competencies – that is, learning is seen to happen at both individual and group levels.
Professional Learning CommunityWhile conceptions and definitions vary considerably, most often a Professional Learning Community (PLC) is understood as an approach to Collaborative Learning among professional colleagues in specific work environments. PLC is among those methods that regard the collective as a learning system – that is, not just a collection of individual learners or a context to support individual learning, but a collective learner.
Programmed LearningProgrammed Learning is an approach to formatting information and activities for learners. Content is first parsed and arranged in a logical and tested sequence. It is then presented to the learner in small steps, and thresholds of demonstrated understanding must be met before proceeding.
ProgressivismProgressivism arose as a counterpoint to emphases and structures of 19th-century public schooling. It frames schooling as a participation in life rather than preparation for life. It is often characterized in terms of such defining practices as personalized, lifelong, and experience-based learning; problem-solving and real-world contexts; social and collaborative engagements; and responsible and informed democratic citizens as a main goal of learning.
Project-Based LearningProject-Based Learning aims to support profound understandings of curriculum topics (and more) by involving learners in complex challenges or problems over extended time. The orienting question should be authentic and interdisciplinary, and engaging with it should support creativity, resiliency, and passion on the personal level, as well as communication and other social skills on the interpersonal level.
Proxies for LearningProxies for Learning are readily implemented and easy-to-observe substitutes for learning.
Psyche-Focused DiscoursesPsyche-Focused Discourses are concerned with individual knowing, doing, and being. They are distinguished from “psychology discourses” in the fact that Psyche-Focused Discourses frame the individual human as a nested system – and so Psyche-Focused Discourses operate in conversation with domains that attend to neurological, physiological, social, cultural, and ecological dynamics.
Psychoanalytic TheoriesPsychoanalytic Theories comprise several schools of thought that are concerned with the study of the actions and beliefs that are not mediated (and often not moderated) by the conscious mind. Psychoanalytic Theories are most often focused on mental-health disorders. Many of these theories’ core constructs have come to be embedded in Western culture, and some are commonly assumed in prominent educational discourses.
Psychological BehaviorismPsychological Behaviorism embraces the insights and most Behaviorisms, but it is critical of the narrow focus on the learners sensory-motor repertoire. Psychological Behaviorism blends elements from related discourses as it seeks to understand more complex learnings – specifically, the learner’s language-cognitive and emotional-motivational repertoires.
PsychologyThe study of mind and behavior.
Psychology of SelfPsychology of Self is an umbrella category that reaches across a range of theories focused on matters of self-identity across multiple situations. Most of these theories attempt to explain how selves are formulated and maintained.
Psychosexual Development TheoryPsychosexual Development is based on Sigmund Freud’s observation that children’s behaviors are oriented towards particular parts of their bodies during predictable phases. Five stages – oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital – are identified. Each is associated with an anxiety that must be mastered in order to avoid the emergence of a neurosis in adulthood.
Psychosocial Development Theory PsychotherapyPsychotherapy encompasses a range of techniques based on personal interaction that are intended to support mental well-being through influencing personal behaviors. Psychotherapy focuses especially on maladaptations related to temperament, behavior, thought, and/or perception. More than a thousand schools have emerged, drawing on perspectives as diverse as Behaviorisms, Psychoanalytic Theories, and Complex Systems Research.
Quantum CognitionQuantum Cognition draws on quantum information theory and quantum probability theory in efforts to develop mathematical models of human learning, perception, emotion, and thought. Importantly, proponents of Quantum Cognition do not assert that mind can be explained in terms of quantum mechanical processes (compare Quantum Mind). Rather, within Quantum Cognition, human thought is seen quantum-like – that is, analogous in some ways to quantum phenomena (e.g., fundamentally contextual; unavailable for objective study).
Quantum MindQuantum Mind encompasses a range of discourses founded on the conviction that human consciousness cannot be explained in terms of classical mechanics, but it may be explainable in terms of quantum mechanical processes (e.g., entanglement, superposition).
Queer PedagogyQueer Pedagogy attends to some of the conditions that enable and constrain learning in the classroom, such as the role of identities, the teacher–student relationship, priorities and refusals evident in curricula, and the politics of bodies enacted (in washroom rules, gym classes, etc.). The theory is positioned as tools of both theory and practice, intended to enable critique and to support the work of educators.
QuestionsStrategies for classifying, structuring, and posing questions reveal much about the asker’s conceptions of knowledge, perspectives on learning, and beliefs about teaching.
Radical BehaviorismRadical Behaviorism expands the strict and narrow focus on observable behaviors that is shared by most Behaviorisms. Radical Behaviorism includes considerations of thought, emotion, and other not-directly-observable mental processes. It acknowledges the agency of the learner, along with the interactive, co-specifying effects of the learner and the environment.
Radical ConstructivismRadical Constructivism focuses on personal knowing – that is, the ongoing, iterative dynamic by which individuals construe coherent sense from their personal perceptions and experiences. Concisely, learning is understood as a continuous process of revising concepts to maintain personal coherence in the face of new experiences/demands.
**RationalismRationalism positions reason as both the source and the measure of sound knowledge. It begins with the assumption that reality has a logical structure. Hence, all versions of Rationalism privilege formal, deductive logic. Some versions also permit other Modes of Reasoning, provided the reasoner is explicitly aware of the mode being used and the purpose for its application.
**RealismRealism is the idea that the one’s perceptions of the world are accurate – that is, one’s senses provide direct awareness of the world as it really is.
**ReductionismReductionism embraces the premise that a phenomenon can be fully understood in terms of either simpler phenomena or as the sum of its parts.
Reflective PracticeReflective Practice refers to both one’s inclinations and abilities to reflect – that is, to critically review one’s actions, responses, interpretations, and motivations – as an integral aspect of one’s learning. Multiple descriptive and/or prescriptive models have been proposed, with varying levels of sophistication. Models typically involve sequences of describing, analyzing, planning, and implementing.
ReflexologyReflexology is a theory of conditioned reflexes – that is, of associations between environmental triggers and reflexive, nonvoluntary behaviors that are not under the learners’ control.
Relational ConstructivismRelational Constructivism combines two theoretical influences – namely Embodied Discourses’ focus on subjective construals based on one’s unique experiences and Embeddedness Discourses’ realization that subjective construals are not random but conditioned by one’s situation.
Relational Frame TheoryRelational Frame Theory is a Behaviorism that focuses on the learning of higher-order processes. It critiques the reliance of most Behaviorisms on the metaphor “learning is linking,” which is rejected as reductive and conceptually constraining. In its place, Relational Frame Theory proposes that “learning is relating,” thus invoking notions of multiple simultaneous associations among a range of influences.
Repair TheoryRepair Theory focuses on procedural learning, which is assumed to be mainly an inductive process (i.e., about producing generalizations based on individual cases). Resting on a metaphor that “errors are like bugs in computer programs,” Repair Theory attends to the “repairs” (i.e., strategies or meta-actions) used by learners to address their own systematic errors. It emphasizes rapid feedback to make learners aware of bugs as quickly as possible.
RepresentationalismRepresentationalism is the belief that the world one perceives in one’s mind is not reality, but an internal copy/replica/representation of reality. That means there can be no first-hand knowledge of the world; every observation and every concept is an internal re-creation (of reality or truth) that is based on incomplete raw data provided by the senses.
Rhizomatic LearningRhizomatic Learning draws metaphorical on rhizomes, plants that spread through continuously growing underground stems that put up shoots and put down roots at different intervals. This image of adventitious spreading is offered as an alternative to the popularly assumed images of orderly, linearized modes and structures (which, e.g., are prominently associated with goal-directed theories of learning and models of education).
**RomanticismRomanticism is a philosophical and artistic movement that emphasizes individuality and subjective experience. While not originally intended to inform schooling, core themes of Romanticism have been translated into such educational principles as a faith in innate human goodness and protecting the child from the corrupting influences of collectivity.
Rotation Model of LearningThe Rotation Model of Learning is an umbrella frame that encompasses different teacher-managed combinations of face-to-face and on-screen learning. The model is intended to promote greater opportunities for collaborative work, independent practice, and teacher-led small-group instruction.
Rote LearningRote Learning refers to approaches that emphasize repetition and memorization, with the goal of quick and accurate recall. It is typically encountered in contexts and disciplines where uncritical mastery of a block of information is useful.
Schema TheorySchema Theory describes how personal knowledge is structured and elaborated. A schema (pl. schemata) is the network of associations that constitutes a concept for someone, and learning is understood as an iterative process of revising schema to maintain their coherence in the face of new experiences, information, and demands. One’s current schemata are the principal determiner of what one will learn through subsequent experiences.
Schools of EducationSchools of Education in universities and other settings have profound influences on popular understandings of learning – through, for example, their roles in preparing teachers, their research into learners and learning, and their contributions to other aspects of school life.
Script TheoryScript Theory rests on an analogy between patterns of human behaviors and written scripts. The basic unit of Script Theory is a “scene” – that is, an emotionally impactful sequence of events. A scene is seen to evoke a response that appears very much as though it was scripted, which is not the same as programmed or prescribed. There is always room for nuance and inflection.
SECI Model of Knowledge DimensionsThe SECI Model of Knowledge Dimensions rests on the metaphor that knowledge is something that can be converted from one form (tacit or explicit) to another. The model offers a taxonomy of four elements in its description of how organizational knowledge is maintained and iteratively elaborated: Socialization (tacit to tacit), Externalization (tacit to explicit), Combination (explicit to explicit), and Internalization (explicit to tacit).
Second-Order CyberneticsSecond-Order Cybernetics is an elaboration of Cybernetics’ core interest in circular causal relationships (feedback) between systems. The interest is extended to include phenomena that can involve feedback to feedback – that is, that have some level of responsive awareness. Second-Order Cybernetics thus simultaneously sparks and addresses issues of autonomy, self-referentiality, knowing, mind, and ethics.
Self-Blended Model of LearningThe Self-Blended Model of Learning involves both face-to-face and on-screen courses, affording learners some autonomy to supplement in-school learning. Reasons for such supplementation vary, including accessing courses that are not offered in schools, enrichment, and general interest.
Self-Categorization TheorySelf-Categorization Theory looks across the categories one uses to identify oneself. The theory attempts to answer the matters of when/why is a collection of people perceived as a collective, along with the consequences of that sort of perception. It asserts that one adopts beliefs and behaviors of one’s ingroup, and one distances oneself from outgroups.
Self-Determination TheorySelf-Determination Theory is founded on the assumption that people have psychological needs which serve as the basis for both self-motivation and self-integration. The theory asserts that optimal development is inherent – but not automatic – for all humans.
Self-Directed LearningSelf-Directed Learning is concerned with individuals taking responsibility for their own educations – which entails some level of control over selecting topics of study, structuring inquiries, organizing resources, managing time, and so on. In a formal educational setting, these decisions are made in collaboration with a teacher, whose main role shifts from administering a curriculum to supporting the learner.
Self-EfficacySelf-Efficacy has to do with one’s belief in one’s capacities to meet challenges and reach goals. High Self-Efficacy is linked to effort, strategizing, persistence, and resilience on tasks. Low Self-Efficacy manifests as over-estimating task difficulty, sometimes-unpredictable behavior with engaged in tasks, and tendencies to link both successes and failures to luck or others.
Self-Perception TheorySelf-Perception Theory runs counter to the commonsense assumption that one’s attitudes determine one’s behaviors. The theory asserts that one’s attitudes arise as one derives rational explanations of one’s own overt behavior in terms of attitudes that must have caused it – in the same way one attempts to explain others’ actions.
Self-Regulated LearningSelf-Regulated Learning, as the name suggests, is about one’s control of one’s own learning, which entails an awareness of strengths and weakness, a repertoire of learning strategies, and a growth Mindset or high sense of Self-Efficacy. The many models associated with Self-Regulated Learning are concerned with processes to develop that control, strategies to direct it, means to monitor it, and tools to evaluate it.
Self-TalkSelf-Talk refers to the phenomenon that most people, while conscious, experience as an “inner voice” or a silent “talking to oneself.” Self-Talk has been identified by many as a critical site for educational attention, as it is both readily influenced and necessary for higher-level thinking (e.g., planning, problem solving, critical thinking, self-awareness).
Semiotic PedagogySemiotic Pedagogy starts with (1) the assertion that schools should be defined as places of learning rather than places of teaching and (2) the assumption that Semiotics with its foci of meaning and communication, is especially well fitted to understanding and informing formal education. Semiotic Pedagogy thus regards the educational setting in terms of a community of interpretation.
**SemioticsSemiotics is concerned with the role of signs in making meaning. Semiotics assumes that individuals cannot have direct knowledge of things and events, and so “sign” is posited as a sort of mediator between one’s mind and an object or event. That is, a sign is a stand-in that represents something else. Most signs are arbitrary (i.e., inherently meaningless), and may be icons (images), pointers (that direct attentions), or symbols (e.g., numbers, words, gestures).
Sensemaking MetaphorThe Sensemaking Metaphor addresses the ways that people derive meaning from and assign meaning to experiences.
Serious PlaySerious Play encompasses a range of play-based, problem-focused, and inquiry-oriented formats for learning. Among the many possibilities, video games, improvisational theatre, and role play figure prominently. Uniting themes include focus on task, flexibility in activity, toying with boundaries, oriented to possibility, and freedom from judgment – all while having fun.
Service-LearningService-Learning is a form of Experiential Education in which curriculum-based learning foci are blended with community service. It is intended to afford greater opportunities for application of and reflection on personal learning while developing social awareness and helping to address societal needs. The hyphen in Service-Learning is important: it signifies that neither service nor learning should have priority over the other.
Sign LearningSign Learning was an attempt to bridge Behaviorisms, Cognitivism, and Gestaltism. The theory begins by rejecting the cause–effect dynamics assumed by most Behaviorisms, arguing instead that stimulus–response pairings are actually processed and selected in the mind’s control room to generate a more holistic internal map of the environment. That is, Sign Learning studies learning on the level of purposeful, goal-directed behaviors, rather than on the level of singular responses to singular stimuli.
Simulation-Based LearningSimulation-Based Learning aims to support learner understanding through engagements with simulations of phenomenon under study. A simulation is reflective of a real-world situation in which operations must be conducted and decisions must be made.
Situated CognitionFraming learning and knowledge in terms of in-the-moment acting (rather than accumulation of information), Situated Cognition posits that thought cannot be separated from context – which includes others, language, activity, and so on. Learning is thus defined in terms of effective and fitting action within situation-specific demands of life.
Situated LearningOriginally focused on adults developing professional skills, Situated Learning is concerned with how newcomers become full participating members in established communities. Highlighting that knowing and doing are inseparable, the theory asserts that learning can be powerfully interpreted as a process of apprenticeship.
Smart LearningSmart Learning is an umbrella notion that reaches across technology-enhanced systems designed to support individual learning that are adaptable to learner needs and preferences, context-aware, mobile, tapped into digital resources, and able to interact with other learning systems. Moving beyond “delivery models,” Smart Learning is intended to offer guidance, hints, and other timely and situationally appropriate supports.
Social Cognition Social Cognitive Theory Social Constructionism Social Constructivism Social Identity Theory Social Learning Theory Social Metacognition Social Model of (Dis)Ability Social-Emotional Learning Socio-Cultural TheorySocio-Cultural Theory begins with the assertion that what is learnable begins as externalized possibilities, which learners gradually internalize through imitation of others, rehearsal with others, and other modes of participation in culturally relevant activities. Social interaction is thus stressed as prior and fundamental to cognition; consciousness and cognition are the products of socialization.
Socio-Cultural-Focused DiscoursesSocio-Cultural-Focused Discourses tend to operate from the assumption that collective knowing unfolds from and is enfolded in individual knowers. Consequently, most of these discourses attend the situated learner and/or the collective learning system – rather than the individual learner. Matters that figure prominently include context, participation, collaboration, ethics, democratic obligation, and tacit norms.
SociologyThe study of human society
Socratic MethodThe Socratic Method is a form of dialogue/argument in which one participant asks strategic questions in an attempt to draw out the other’s assumptions and ideas – hoping to reveal inconsistencies, gaps, and/or contradictions in support of more critical understandings. Some describe the Socratic Method as a method to eliminate hypotheses through systematic analysis and logical refutation of untenable beliefs.
Spatial ReasoningSpatial Reasoning encompasses an extensive range of abstract skills that are directly linked to physical actions or relations. It is the ability to use body-based actions and positionings as tools to interpret and reason. It is recognized as a necessary grounding for highly abstract competencies. For example, formal logic relies on images of containment – that is, of imagining items contained in (or not contained in) other items.
Stages of Change TheoryStages of Change Theory parses learning into a sequence of five stages, each associated with specific strategies to promote movement to the next stage while preventing regression to previous stages. Originally based on studies of people who were trying to stop smoking, it has since been applied to a broad range of skills and concepts.
Stages of Understanding ModelsStages of Understanding Models are concerned with the emergence of specific competencies or disciplinary knowledge. Virtually all these models assume nonlinear, recursive dynamics as they describe learning in terms of enlarging possibility through the development of more-and-more powerful strategies competencies
Standardized EducationStandardized Education includes those approaches to schooling that emphasize common programs of study, age-based grade levels, and uniform performance outcomes. The movement drew much of its inspiration and content from ancient traditions and religion, but its main influences have been industry and the physical sciences.
Stimulus Sampling TheoryStimulus Sampling Theory draws on Contiguity Theory’s premise that a specific stimulus–response pairing is learned in a single trial. The overall learning process, however, is seen a as more continuous and comprises many stimulus–response pairings. Framing matters in terms of probabilities, Stimulus Sampling Theory looks at the chances a particular stimulus in a trial will be paired with particular response.
Structural Learning TheoryStructural Learning Theory is a prescriptive model of problem solving that characterizes problems in terms of structures, and it suggests that learners should start by developing rules to recognize and act on those structures. This learning is seen as iterative; as rules are learned, gaps are filled in, making it possible to interpret structures (problems) in more nuanced ways, opening the door to more fine-grained rules, higher-order problems, and more complex paths.
**StructuralismStructuralism suggests that meaning exists neither in words, nor in the links between words and whatever those words designate. Rather, meaning is argued to arise and reside in complex, evolving webs of association that span and implicate all aspects of culture.
Studio-Based LearningStudio-Based Learning is based on a type of professional education that it typical in schools of architecture. Under the supervision of a master-designer, students work like apprentices in a common space as they take on a design project. They are able to interact and collaborate as needed. The master-designer provides periodic critiques, and peers gradually take on that responsibility as their skills and knowledge develop. Final products are publicly presented.
SubjectivitySubjectivity-focused perspectives frame knowledge/knowing in terms of personal experience. Learning is seen an iterative dance of refining one’s web of interpretations to maintain coherence with one’s unfolding experiences.
Subsumption TheorySubsumption Theory is a perspective on expository instruction. It’s based on the assumption that meaningful learning – that is, learning that can be readily applied and retained – can only happen if new content is related to what one already knows. Teaching advice includes that the most general concepts should be presented first and that presentations should blend new and familiar content.
Symbol SystemsSymbol Systems is a theory of media-based learning. Both the learner and the medium of learning are described in terms of symbol-based processing. Key assertions include that different media rely on different mental processes, how one engages with and learns from a specific medium is dependent on one’s established knowledge, and social context can matter.
**Symbolic InteractionismSymbolic Interactionism aims to offer insight into how culture is preserved through interactions among individuals. It posits that formal symbolic systems – and, in particular, language – are the sources and media of all meaning. Symbolic Interactionism is focused on how individuals interact to create and recreate symbolic worlds and, in turn, how those co-created symbolic worlds shape each individual’s actions and interpretations.
Syntonic LearningContrasted with disassociated learning, Syntonic Learning is about engaging one’s body and senses, aiming to develop a level of self-knowledge that enables one to transpose one’s own movement in space onto an object’s movement or into a program for movement.
Systemic Sustainability EducationSystemic Sustainability Education gathers a range of emerging discourses on ecology and complexity, framed by the conviction that discussions of formal schooling have been too narrow – that is, bounded on one end with a focus on the individual and at the other with a focus on society. The biological and the more-than-human have been largely overlooked.
Systems PsychologyInspired and informed by Complex Systems Research, Systems Psychology views human cognition as an emergent and nested complex system.
Tabula rasaTabula rasa, Latin for “blank slate,” refers to the belief that human minds are blank at birth – and, hence, all personal knowledge derives from perception and experience.
Teaching Styles DiscoursesTeaching Styles Discourses include any attempt to identify and/or categorize modes of teaching. The least sophisticated are presented as undifferentiated lists of teaching approaches, and the slightly-more-sophisticated use questionnaires, scales, and grids to generate teaching profiles.
Technology-Mediated Individual LearningDiscussions of Technology-Mediated Individual Learning position emergent technologies as integral aspects of current existence – that is, not as tools that one might use, but as elements of one’s being. These discourses are thus focused on seamlessly incorporating such technologies into formal learning experiences. This a goal can entail profound challenges to traditional curriculum content and pedagogical strategies.
Threshold Concept TheoryA threshold concept is a core principle or notion that, when understood, can significantly alter one’s understanding of a domain of concepts. The metaphor of “threshold” was chosen for the imagery of “opening portals” – i.e., into previously unavailable ways of thinking about a topic of range of topics.
Transformative LearningTransformative Learning is concerned with the expansion of consciousness through critical reflection on beliefs and experiences. It focuses on three sites of “perspective transformation”: psychological (self), convictional (beliefs), and behavioral (lifestyle). Transformative Learning involves rational efforts to analyze and reformulate habits of action and deep-seated assumptions.
Transformative PedagogyTransformative Pedagogy encompasses multiple educational emphases, with three clusters that are particularly prominent. One is a focus on collective action with the aim of social justice. Another cluster is focused on individual self-perception, beliefs, and habits. A third has a broader horizon, extending into matters of environmental sustainability and ecological justice.
**TranshumanismTranshumanism addresses the development, use, and distribution of technologies to enhance intellect and physiology. Oriented by a belief that eventual benefits will outweigh current health, social, ethical, and other issues and dangers, most proponents of Transhumanism envision a future in which possibility is so greatly increased by directed evolution (vs. natural evolution) that humans will become fundamentally different sorts of beings.
U-LearningU-Learning is an anywhere, anytime model of education. Supported by (but not focused on) mobile and embedded technologies, U-Learning emphasizes real-life experience that are (1) augmented with information adapted to the learner and fitted to the one’s situation and (2) aligned with content, tasks, peer-interactions, and teacher-consultations that are customized to one’s goals, needs, and preferences.
Ubiquitous Metaphors of LearningThere are a few metaphors that pop up everywhere on the map – that is, some metaphors are invoked by discourses in every single region, and so they’re impossible to locate using the map we’ve devised. This map-wide cluster is used to collect those metaphors.
Unaffiliated Discourses“Unaffiliated Discourses” refers to those discourses on influencing learning that present constructs and advice which can be aligned with or is applicable to virtually every other discourse. A critical element of Unaffiliated Discourses seems to be a resistance (or perhaps a failure) to offer a consistent interpretation of learning, apart from the near-universal belief that learning entails change.
**Universal DarwinismUniversal Darwinism encompasses every extension of Darwin’s theory of evolution beyond its original application to biological organisms. Universal Darwinism is motivated by the conviction that such dynamics as variation, selection, and retention can be applied to other patterns. phenomena, and systems – such as those studied in psychology, sociology, medicine, computer science, and geology.
Universal Design for LearningUniversal Design for Learning argues that difference and disability are systemic phenomena that arise in the interaction of agent and context. Consequently, educational contexts must be designed to be flexible in order to emphasize ability – by providing multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression.
Variation TheoryVariation Theory draws together insights into human attention and the structure of different knowledge domains to offer advice on critical discernments that are necessary to a discipline, strategies to channel learners’ attentions to those discernments, and tactics to encourage meaning-making through the juxtaposition of noticings.
Virtual Community of PracticeIn a Virtual Community of Practice, most of the interaction is developed on, mediated by, and is maintained through digital technologies. A Virtual Community of Practice is organized around a specific domain of interest, includes expert practitioners, has an initiation/apprenticeship structure to induct new members, engages members in collective knowledge creation and sharing, and involves a substantial level of synchronous interaction.
Visible LearningVisible Learning is the title of a 2008 book in which John Hattie summarized the research into more than 100 teaching emphases and practices. Based on quantitative meta-analyses of published studies, Hattie calculated the impact (usually defined in terms of changes in student achievement) of and ranked those strategies. The most impactful revolved around tactics to raise student awareness of their own achievements (e.g., self-reported grades, formative assessment). That result led to Hattie’s meaning for the term Visible Learning, which has to do with helping students become their own teachers by rendering their learning visible to them and others.
VisualizationVisualization refers to any thought process associated with purposefully imagining an actual phenomenon in order to enhance understanding and/or consolidate memories of that phenomenon.
Well-Being DiscoursesWell-Being Discourses are concerned with the physical, mental, emotional, and/or social health of individuals. For the most part, these discourses are more concerned with the conditions of learning than the dynamics of cognition or approaches to teaching. Some consensus has arisen around the assertion that attending to learners’ well-being is integral to all aspects of formal education.
Wild PedagogiesWild Pedagogies is about learning to live in, dwell in, and engage with a more than human world.
Zone Theory of Child DevelopmentZone Theory of Child Development claims to build on Socio-Cultural Theory – specifically the notion of zone of proximal development (ZPD), which encompasses those developmental possibilities that are within a learner’s reach, with guidance. It posits two additional zones – the zone of free movement (ZFM) and the zone of promoted action (ZPA) – and it interprets teaching in terms of manipulating the ZFM and ZPA in consideration of the learner’s ZPD.
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Learn More...Discourses on Influencing Learning
Discourses on Interpreting Learning
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UNSCIENTIFIC (inattentive to assumptions; tendency toward uncritical, entailment-heavy assertions about learning)
QUASI-SCIENTIFIC or LIMITED-SCIENTIFIC(lacking some critical element associated with robust, scientific knowledge)
SCIENTIFIC(robustly theorized and empirically grounded, aimed at innovative contributions to understanding learning)
**signifies HIJACKED or ADAPTED (not originally formulated or intended as discourses on or associated with learning)